Specters of the Past
by Fieren
Summary: One year after Battle City, Yuugi's brother moves to Domino City. All question Yuugi, as none but Anzu knew he existed. What force of destiny has wrought this event? Rated R for future dialogue, violence and possible citrus. Ch. 11 is now up!
1. The New Guy

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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did T.T This is a work of fiction.

Chapter 1: The New Guy

Yuuhi sat at the window seat on the left side of an airplane. Yuuhi was fairly tall with brown hair, tinged red that went down to his shoulders. He had cold blue eyes and fair skin, he wasn't scrawny, but he wasn't very big either. You could say he was average. All of his belongings were in a moving truck headed towards Domino City. His parents had divorced eight years ago, Yuuhi had left with his father, while his younger brother, Yuugi stayed in Domino with his mother and grandfather. Now, Yuuhi's father had grown tired of being tied down by his son, and had relinquished custody of him over to his mother, who had fought for it often enough. Lazily, Yuuhi glanced out the oval window, and saw that the plane was beginning to descend. Through the intercom, the co-pilot told the passengers they'd be landing at Domino Airport in only twenty minutes. Yuuhi wasn't excited, for the most part, he didn't entirely care that his father didn't want him, but he didn't like the idea of living with people he hardly knew. Eight years could change people a lot. Yuugi was a wimp then, and he probably was now. Yuugi's only friend, a brunette named Mazaki Anzu was kind of annoying, and not much hope could be seen for her in the future. That could also have changed. With a resigned groan, Yuuhi knew things were going to change for him.

In the terminal, a small boy of about 16 with spiky purple hair with blond bangs was playing pinball in the arcade that was adjacent to the gate his mother and grandfather were waiting at. They were there to pick up his brother.

Yuugi, you never told me that you had a brother.The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, a golden square pyramid relic from ancient Egypt that hung on a chain from Yuugi's neck said.

It never came up, Yami.Yuugi replied despondently to his yami. Yuugi grimaced as his last ball was lost, but at least he made the high score. Besides, I don't really remember Yuuhi very well.

That sounds horrible, Yuugi. A brother is a great thing to have.Yami said in an attempt to cheer up his hikari.

I guess you could say that.Yuugi said with a shrug.

He glanced back at the gate. The plain had landed, and weary passengers with their carry-on bags were disembarking. After several tall, suited men with briefcases moved, Yuugi saw a taller boy than he with brownish-red hair and a lazy expression on his face coming down the tunnel, he wore a blue button shirt that was unbuttoned, he had a tighter black t-shirt on underneath, he wore a pair of pants much like Yuugi's an a set of black boots. On his back was a red backpack, and slung casually over his shoulder was a brown jacket. Yuugi's mother stepped forward and embraced her eldest son. Yuugi slowly made his way over.

"How was the trip, Yuuhi?" The boys' mother asked.

"Boring, the movie wasn't so great, and you know what airline food is like." Yuuhi said with a smile.

"Welcome to Domino, son, you remember your grandfather, right?"

"How could I forget the old coot, how've you been Grandpa?" Yuuhi asked, turning to the squat, grey-haired man.

"Old coot? I'm still as spry as ever." Grandpa flexed a muscle and apparently pulled something.

"You remember Yuugi too, right?"

"I'm not an amnesiac, Mom, where is the little pipsqueak anyway?" Yuuhi asked, as he searched the room and his eyes fixed on his younger brother. Yuugi's expression was friendly, and he was smiling.

"Hi, Yuuhi. It's good to see you." Yuugi said warmly.

"You haven't grown much, have you?" Yuuhi snickered. "Either way, it's good to see you, Yuugi." Yuuhi quickly placed Yuugi in a headlock and mussed up his spiky hair with a noogie. "Eight years worth of noogie's are coming your way, Yuugi!"

"Stop, Yuuhi! This means war!" Yuugi half-screamed. Yuuhi promptly let him go.

"I remember eight years ago you would have started crying, and then you'd sick Mazaki on me. You've toughened up a little, I'm proud." Yuuhi said.

Yuugi was dumbstruck. Eight years ago, Yuuhi would have mercilessly continued the noogie even through Anzu's kicking and clawing. Yuuhi had changed.

"Let's go get your luggage, dear." The boys' mom said.

Grandpa rose from the chair and followed after their mother, the two boys walked in the back.

So, that is your brother.Yami commented. Yuugi simply nodded. He seems nice enough.

Yuugi didn't answer and instead looked up at his brother.

"Where were you living anyway? Dad never sent anything out." Yuugi broke the silence.

"I moved around a lot, Dad kept getting jobs everywhere. He wasn't very good at holding on to them. Before he decided he'd had enough of feeding and taking care of me, we were in Canada." Yuuhi replied almost as soon as the question was asked. "Then there's you, the King of Games, winner of the Battle City tournament. You've been busy with Magic and Wizards."

"You know the game?" Yuugi asked.

"I know a few things." Yuuhi replied a little evasively.

"You have a deck?" Yuugi asked, now that Magic and Wizards had come up, his enthusiasm picked up.

Yuuhi looked down to his younger brother. "Is that a challenge?"

"If you have a deck." Yuugi countered.

"I don't know how well I would do against the King of Games." Yuuhi said in a half-mocking tone when he said 'King of Games'. "But, I do have a deck, it's in my carry-on." Yuuhi mentioned dryly.

"We can duel when we get home, I can introduce you to my friends too." Yuugi said.

"You made more friends too? Things have changed haven't they?" Yuuhi mused.

Yuuhi was waiting in the park waiting for Yuugi's friends to show up. The duel at home had come up a draw. Yuuhi was better than he'd given himself credit for. Yuuhi ran with a Manipulation theme. Most of Yuuhi's cards had effects and abilities that allowed him to control and destroy opponents cards while they were in the deck, field, hand or cemetery. Yuuhi was hard to get around. But Yuugi's skills were too much, and so they decided on a draw, since neither was winning. Yuuhi was leaning on a park bench, lazily watching the people pass by. Yuugi was looking around for his friends. Suddenly, Yuugi began jumping and waving.

"Mai! Jounouchi! Over here!" Yuugi hollered.

Yuuhi could see that on the street, a pink convertible was parked, and a two tall, blond people stepped out. One was a woman wearing a mini-skirt, high boots, a white top and a purple jacket. Her blond hair fell down her back in curls. The other was a taller guy of about Yuuhi's height with shaggy blond hair, he wore a white t-shirt with blue sleeves and a blue rectangular design on it. He wore tight blue jeans and a pair of black and white sneakers. Around his neck he wore a pair of dog-tags.

The two quickly made their way over. They met up with Yuugi and chatted briefly.

"Guys, this is my older brother, Yuuhi." Yuugi said, jabbing a thumb in Yuuhi's direction. "Yuuhi, this is Kujaku Mai, and Jounouchi Katsuya." Yuugi gestured to each in turn.

"Yo." Yuuhi gave a slight wave. Mai and Jounouchi nodded their greeting. "There are more, right Yuugi?"

"Yeah, there's still Anzu, Honda, Otogi, Bakura and Shizuka. Speaking of Shizuka… She's not with you Jounouchi?" Yuugi asked.

"I was out with Mai today, Yuugi. I wasn't about to bring my little sister out with me." Jounouchi defended himself.

"Jou is such a great guy to be alone with too." Mai rolled her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Jounouchi exploded. "I am a perfect gentleman! It's not like I groped you or anything perverted like that… on purpose."

That last bit that Jounouchi added forced both Yuugi and Yuuhi's eyebrows to arch. "On purpose?" The brothers asked in unison.

"Just never mind." Jounouchi turned his head, red masking his face.

"I was driving, and Jou was telling the story of this street fight he'd been in, I slammed on the brakes because of a red light, and when we stopped, his hand was grasping my breast. I knew the knucklehead wasn't doing it on purpose though." Mai recounted the story, most likely just to light Jounouchi's fuse. It worked.

"That must be why you slapped me then." Jounouchi retorted.

"You must have deserved it man." Said an annoying voice to the left. There stood a guy, taller than Jounouchi with a shark-fin hairstyle on his head. He wore a dark jacket with a white shirt underneath, he wore black pants and boots to match. Next to him stood a beautiful brunette who wore a black t-shirt, a pair of mid-thigh length shorts and sandals. She had gorgeous sapphire eyes.

"Shut up, Honda!" Jounouchi yelled at him.

"Yuuhi, that's Honda Hiroto, and you should remember Mazaki Anzu. Honda, Anzu, this is Yuuhi." Yuugi went through the introductions again.

With the same wave he gave Mai and Jounouchi, Yuuhi gave a simple greeting.

"Yuuhi, you look great." Anzu said. "Eight years, right?" she asked.

"Yup, it's been eight years." Yuuhi said. "You look good too." He smiled.

"So, you're Yuugi's brother, huh?" Honda asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Yuuhi replied.

"Never knew Yuugi had a brother." Honda said accusingly.

"It never came up, Honda. None of you ever asked." Yuugi stammered.

Everyone became silent. Ten minutes passed.

"The others are late." Anzu commented, breaking the silence.

"It's probably just traffic." Mai said matter-of-factly, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'll bet that Otogi is putting the moves on your sister again, Jou." Honda said.

"Don't act so innocent on that one, Honda!" Jounouchi replied.

"There they are." Yuugi heaved a sigh of relief.

The last of Yuugi's friends were walking down a path to the right. One had dark hair, tied in a pony tail, he wore a red vest with a black sleeveless shirt underneath, he wore black pants and boots. From his left ear, dangled a die on a chain. The other boy was fair-skinned, with what looked like white hair, he wore a simple blue and white striped t-shirt with blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers. Around his neck hung a ring with a shape similar to the one around Yuugi's neck. That odd-looking eye. The girl in the back was fair-skinned, with long reddish-brown hair. She wore a pink shirt and a pair of shorts that fell to her knees. As soon as the three were in sight, and earshot, Yuugi called out the introductions.

"Yuuhi, this is Ryuji Otogi, Jounouchi Shizuka, and Bakura Ryou. Guys, this is my brother, Yuuhi."

Otogi, Ryou and Shizuka nodded their greetings to Yuuhi, he nodded in return. Shizuka's cheeks reddened slightly.

"Well Yuuhi," Yuugi breathed an exasperated sigh, "this is everyone. Everyone, this is Yuuhi."

That was that. Yuugi had introduced all of his friends to his auburn-haired brother. Yuuhi stood and dusted off his pants. He straightened up and looked to all of them.

"They look like nice people, Yuugi. It's good to see you've made some good friends." Otogi and Honda sat down on another bench adjacent to the one Yuuhi had been seated at, and Shizuka sat in the middle of them. Jounouchi begun talking with Mai and Yuugi, Ryou had disappeared, or so it had seemed. Anzu was by herself, seated on another bench. The breeze blew her chestnut-colored hair in the wind. Yuuhi went over and sat next to her. Neither of them spoke.

"You look like you've been well, Yuuhi." Anzu broke the silence.

"You too, Mazaki. Still following your dancing dream?" Yuuhi asked in a friendly tone. "I remember your parents had put you in all kinds of dance classes."

"My parents have been away on business for a long time, I've been living on my own for a few years now. But yeah, I'm still dancing." She said with a warm smile. "I'd always wondered why you'd disappeared without notice." She said quietly. "Yuugi would never say."

"I don't really wanna talk about it either." Yuuhi said abruptly. "What I will say is it was mostly about the divorce."

Anzu nodded knowingly, her hair cascading over her face as she did.

"That was pretty rough on Yuugi." Anzu said.

I can imagine, Yuuhi thought to himself. "Either way, I'm back. I don't mean to sound mean, Mazaki, but I don't really wanna talk anymore about this." Yuuhi stood, and wiped the dirt of the bench off of his pants as he left to talk to some of the others, and get to know them. Anzu watched, leaning her chin on the heel of her palm and watched as two of her earliest childhood friends talked and laughed, like they did eight years ago. Jounouchi and Yuuhi seemed to hit it off great. Soon, they were talking about any random thing and both were able to talk intelligently about it. Anzu's attention turned to the shameless flirting of Honda and Otogi, continually trying to win the small brunette, Shizuka. Anzu rose and slowly made her way to rescue the petite girl.

Ryou was walking away from all that had was going on with the introductions in the park square. From atop his blue and white striped shirt, the golden Millennium Ring appeared, the eye of illusion losing it's glow as Bakura slipped away from the group. Glancing back over his shoulder, his crimson eyes narrowed. Something was not right with that auburn-haired boy. Yuuhi Mutou, brother to the Pharaoh's vessel, Yuugi.

"Why did my Ring begin to shine in his presence?" Bakura asked rhetorically. "It's power is not out of my control… I must keep watch on him."

Bakura…Ryou began in his soft-spoken voice.

Shut up!Bakura snapped at his hikari. Better yet, Ryou, you will be my eyes that observe what will happen with him, won't you?Bakura asked, almost threateningly.

I won't help you hurt someone.Ryou stated meekly.

You'll do as you're told! You should've long since learned to question me.Bakura's eyes narrowed menacingly. Perhaps I've been to lenient on this body of yours?Bakura paused a moment. Is that boys safety somehow worth more then your own?

Ryou was silent as the grave. He sobbed slightly. It appears we understand each other. We're going home.

Bakura slipped his hands into his pockets and left for the home of Ryou. Things just might get more interesting around here, Bakura thought with a mental laugh.

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End of Chapter One

Please R&R! All constructive criticism will be taken into consideration. No flames please. This is my first work.


	2. First Duel

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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did. T.T This is a work of fiction.

Chapter 2: First Duel

The class was a beehive of activity. Class hadn't officially started, and students were gathered and talking in their groups. Yuugi, Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda were gathered up in a corner in the back of class, keeping their voices hushed, as a few of the other groups were doing.

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing." Jounouchi finished his story with a longing sigh.

"Sounds like it was a good pizza, Jou." Honda commented with a laugh.

"I tell you… Once you guys have had a pizza like that, no other will do." Jounouchi said, with a movement of his hand.

Yuugi glanced down at his watch, then towards the door. "Yuuhi's a little late." Yuugi muttered.

Placing a hand on Yuugi's shoulder, Anzu half-bent down to look him in the face. "He's probably in the office or something, finishing up his registration and getting his uniform."

Yuugi's face brightened a little. "Yeah, you're probably right." Yuugi walked towards his desk and sat, from his backpack, he pulled his deck box and started looking through his deck, picking out strategies and combo's. Jounouchi took his seat behind Yuugi and swivelled himself around so he could face his dark-haired friends.

"Ryou-kun is a little late, too." Anzu commented as she looked up at the clock. Ryou was very punctual, and always on time. Anzu would have thought more on the subject, but the teacher walked in, signalling for the students to take their seats.

"Welcome class, I trust your Sunday was fulfilling?" The teacher asked in a mockingly friendly tone. After some muttered replies, he continued on with the class news. "We're also taking in two new students today, both of which have transferred in from North America: Kaiba Seto, and Mutou Yuuhi." The teacher gestured towards the door, and Yuuhi entered, he hadn't gotten a uniform yet. Following Yuuhi was a taller male, with short, well-groomed brown hair. His face seemed pulled into a never-ending look of smug satisfaction. He was wearing his uniform, and in his right hand, he carried a cobalt-colored briefcase. The class uttered some greetings and Yuuhi and Seto were shown their seats. Yuuhi's was to the left of Anzu, whom was to the left of Yuugi. Seto's was in the front of the room, closest to the door. Yuuhi laid his elbow on his desk, and propping himself up by his palm, he lazily watched as the teacher drew on the blackboard.

The day progressed slowly, and after what seemed like an eternity in hell, or more rather math, the class was let out into their lunch hour. Yuugi led the way to their usual lunch spot, a corner on the roof of the school. Yuugi opened the door to the stairwell, gathered on the various landings were numerous groups of students, talking, and laughing, then there were the groups of just two, and let's just say they weren't eating lunch. Yuugi thrust open the door to the roof, which was fenced off so students couldn't fall off of the three story building. Set up along the chained-link fences were some basketball hoops. A few students were playing, but Yuugi's crew sat down near the door.

Jounouchi and Yuuhi yawned in unison and cracked into their lunches. Yuugi, Anzu and Honda ate more slowly then Yuuhi and Jounouchi, but managed to finish their lunches sooner.

"So, what do you think of Domino High so far?" Nobody needed to know whom Yuugi directed his question.

"It's all right." Yuuhi commented with a shrug as he bit into his last sandwich. "That teacher needs to change that monotone voice of his, fell asleep three times." Yuuhi said.

"Join the club, Jounouchi here can't go through a class without sleeping." Honda jerked his head towards Jounouchi.

"Yuuhi would've slept clean through if Anzu hadn't kept waking him up." Yuugi said.

Anzu's cheeks reddened. She'd been found out.

"How come you never wake me up, Anzu?" Jounouchi asked.

"Because, Jounouchi, you could sleep through a hurricane. A solid poke in the ribs from me is not going to wake you up." Anzu said as she crossed her arms.

Jounouchi nodded in agreement. He knew it was true. Behind the group, the roof-access door opened, and out strode Otogi and three women. He sat down, and the three of them followed suit. Each of the girls were blond, and had blue eyes. If it weren't for some of the glaring difference in other features, they could be mistaken for triplets.

"So, how was your first half a day?" Otogi asked to Yuuhi, who hooked some of his hair behind his ear.

"Like I told everyone else, boring." Yuuhi yawned again.

"Say, Otogi," Yuugi asked, and when Yuugi had seen that his dark-haired friend had given him his attention, Yuugi went on, "you live close to Ryou, do you know why he isn't here today?"

"I normally see him just outside, since we live so close we usually walk together, but he wasn't there today. He's probably just sick, you know how Ryou is." Otogi explained.

"Either way, I'm going over after school." Yuugi stated. If his friend was sick, he'd want to help.

To Yuuhi, something hadn't seemed right about Ryou right off the start. From what he'd heard of the light-haired boy, he was very polite, but Ryou had just disappeared, right after he'd been introduced. Then he remembered the similarity between Yuugi's pyramid-thing and Ryou's ring. They both had that eye on it.

"Yuugi, I'd been meaning to ask you… What it that thing?" Yuuhi asked, pointing his index finger at the Millennium Puzzle. "I remember Ryou had an item that was similar to that one around his neck."

A silence fell over the group. The lot of them looked nervously back and forth between them.

//What do I tell him, Yami?// Yuugi frantically asked the spirit.

//The truth. He's your brother, he wouldn't mock you for it.// Yami said calmly. He was perfectly aware that most people didn't believe in the magic of the item.

"It's an item Grandpa got me from an expedition to Egypt. It came in the form of a puzzle, and when I assembled it, I figured I could wear it. I don't know why Ryou's ring has the same design on it though." Yuugi lied. He couldn't tell his brother something that strange right from the start. They'd only just been reunited the other day.

"Oh really?" Yuuhi asked. He knew his brother was lying. That golden trinket was more then he was letting on. If it were so simple, he wouldn't have paused about it for so long. "Can I see?" Yuuhi pointed at it. He was going to see if he could test his theory.

Yuugi shrugged and removed the puzzle from around his neck, and handed the chain to Yuuhi.

"You said it was a puzzle right?" Yuugi nodded. "It looks complicated, would you mind if I tried taking it apart and re-assembling it?"

"It took me a long time to build, and it's too precious to let you take it apart. I'm going to have to say no about that one. Sorry." Yuugi took back the puzzle and looped the chain back around his neck.

Yuugi's answer didn't betray anything, that response seemed genuine enough. Yuuhi decided not to press the matter any further for the moment, as the bell had rung. The group stood and made their way back to their classes.

As they re-entered the class and took their seats, the second bell rang. The teacher strode into the classroom, and class resumed. He continued on in his monotone voice; Yuuhi and Jounouchi fell asleep.

Five minutes before the end of class, Yuuhi woke and stretched. The teacher had wrapped up the lesson, and now students were conversing amongst each other.

"What a boring day." Jounouchi commented as he cast a glare at the teacher. "How could he give me detention?! Yuuhi was sleeping too."

"I guess he just didn't notice me." Yuuhi chuckled.

"You snore really loud though, Jounouchi." Honda said. "Your body was built to not let you get away with any crap."

"Someone upstairs hates me." Jounouchi shook his fist threateningly at the ceiling.

"Or it could be faulty genetics." Said an arrogant voice from behind Anzu.

"Shut yer hole, Kaiba!" Jounouchi stood and jabbed his index finger at the source of the arrogance.

Seto chuckled lightly to himself, and then rose from his seat. He crossed his arms across his chest, and seated himself atop his desk.

"Leave him alone, Kaiba." Yuugi said defensively.

Kaiba must do this often, Yuuhi thought to himself.

"Yuugi, why don't you let Jounouchi take care of himself? Do you think he appreciates having a shrimpy, little guy like you stand up for him?" Seto taunted.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Kaiba!" Yuugi raised his voice.

"No, Yuugi, he's right. As much as I do appreciate having you stand up for me, that rich punk is my problem, and I'll deal with him myself." Jounouchi said.

"That's right, Yuugi, so butt out and let the big boys talk." Kaiba said with a chuckle.

Yuuhi gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Yuuhi yelled to the snobbish Kaiba.

"Who're you?" Kaiba demanded angrily.

"I'm Yuugi's brother, Yuuhi." Yuuhi said with a glare.

"Butt out." Kaiba spat.

"Take Jou's advice and shut your mouth!" Yuuhi snapped, slamming his clenched fist down on his desk.

Kaiba directed his angry look to Yuuhi. "Protective big brother, eh?" Kaiba stood and strode towards Yuuhi. "I know the feeling."

"Don't compare yourself to me, Kaiba." Yuuhi said acidly. "All you've done since you started talking to us is insult my friends. I want you to shut up, and piss off!"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "I don't like your tone." He said icily.

"I haven't liked yours since you opened your big mouth." Yuuhi responded in the same tone.

Yuugi, Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda watched as someone finally stood up to the rich snob. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. It seemed like Seto and Yuuhi were about ready to jump at each other and tear the others eyes out. It seemed like it was going to happen until the teacher told everyone that they could leave. Everyone gathered their belongings and made their way outside. On the curb, stood Kaiba, behind him was a black stretch limousine.

"Get in Mutou." Kaiba ordered. Yuugi stepped forward. "Not you," Kaiba spat, "your mouthy brother!"

Yuuhi narrowed his eyes and stepped forward. Anzu stood in his way.

"Yuuhi, don't go." Anzu pleaded. "I don't want Kaiba to hurt you."

Yuuhi flashed a warm smile at his friend. "You're welcome to come with me, Mazaki. I could use a friendly face." Yuuhi looked up to the sneering glare of Seto. "That all right with you?" Yuuhi asked, not really caring about Kaiba's answer.

"Fine, bring your cheerleader." Kaiba spat. Yuuhi and Anzu walked towards the limo.

"Yuugi, please check on Ryou for me?" Anzu asked.

Yuugi watched with disappointment as Anzu left with Yuuhi and Kaiba. "I will, Anzu." Yuuhi whispered.

Yuugi, Honda, and Jounouchi took off towards Ryou's apartment as Yuuhi and Anzu entered Kaiba's limo.

"Do you own a deck, Mutou?" Kaiba asked.

"I do. Are you thinking of resolving this with a card game?" Yuuhi asked, dumbfounded.

"What better to prove my superiority?" Seto asked. "Are you not up to the challenge?"

Yuuhi clenched his fist. I'm getting sick of his attitude, Yuuhi thought to himself. "I'm up to the challenge, Kaiba."

The rest of the drive was in complete, tense silence. Anzu looked back and forth from Seto to Yuuhi. Both were looking out separate windows. It was amazing, how closely the two looked alike. Both were the same expression on their face. Yuuhi, who was normally laid-back and lazy seemed to be replaced by someone who was used to situations like these. Almost like what happened with Yami and Yuugi, however, Yuuhi didn't have a Millennium Item or anything like that. It had to be something else.

"Kaiba?" Anzu asked.

"What?" Kaiba looked towards Anzu.

"Yuuhi doesn't have a Duel Disk, are you guys going to duel the old-fashioned way?"

"I invented the Duel Disk, Mazaki. I can give him one. Did the elder Mutou not make it into my Battle City tournament?" Kaiba asked.

"I wasn't interested in competing Kaiba." Yuuhi said stoically.

The silence returned to the limo, as the driver turned down a street. In the distance, Kaiba's mansion could be seen. The limo slowed down and pulled in through the gates and up a long driveway. It slowed to a complete stop, and the driver stepped out and opened the door. Anzu stepped out and Yuuhi followed, as soon as they were out, Seto stepped out as well. Seto walked towards the door, and with a gesture from his fingers, Anzu and Yuuhi followed.

The three made their way through several large, intricately decorated hallways and eventually came to a door with a card-reader on it. Seto drew a card from his deck and swiped it through the reader. The door unlocked, and swung open.

"This card-reader will only read one of three Magic and Wizards cards in the world." Kaiba said smugly.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" Anzu asked.

"You had to ask? Mutou: You'll be testing the new model Duel Disk." Kaiba tossed a white and grey wristlet to Yuuhi. "You put it on your wrist, and a solid hologram is displayed that you play your cards on. We'll play using my Battle City rules. 4000 Life Points, tribute rules apply, and you can only set two Magic or Trap cards a turn."

"Doesn't sound too hard." Yuuhi commented as he slipped the wristlet on. He pushed a button in the shape of the KaibaCorp. Logo. The hologram appeared and it didn't look too much different from the Duel Disk that Yuugi had.

"If you don't mind, I'll go first." Seto said as he drew his card. He looked at it. "I set two cards face down, and I'll play Gargoyle Powered (1600/1000) in attack mode." The two images of face-down cards appeared in front of Seto, and a red gargoyle appeared. "Go."

Yuuhi drew his card and looked at it. "I summon Explosive Bowman (1700/700) in attack mode." A man, clad in green forest garb and carrying a bow appeared. "Attack Kaiba's Gargoyle Powered now!" The archer drew an arrow, which had two sticks of dynamite tied to the shaft and set it against the bow string, with a good draw, and a sound snap of the bowstring, the explosive arrow flew at Gargoyle Powered.

"Activate face-down card!" Kaiba said, as the face-down Magic/Trap on his left flipped face up. "My Magic Card, Shrink! It halves the attack power of one monster on the field, and I choose to halve the attack of my Gargoyle Powered!" As the arrow soared towards the crimson gargoyle, it's shrank to half of it's original size. "Now that my monster has less then 1000 attack points I'll activate my other face-down card, my Deck Destruction Virus! This Trap card destroys all of the monsters on your field, hand and deck with more than 1500 attack points!" Kaiba laughed, revelling in his accomplishment.

Yuuhi leafed through his deck and hand and cast to the cemetery all of his powerful monsters. "Destroying my archer with your Trap Card has activated his special ability: When he goes to the cemetery, he'll send three of your Magic cards to yours!"

As Yuuhi finished telling Kaiba the Explosive Bowman's ability, the archer shot three charmed arrows into Kaiba's deck. It then shattered into several shards of light and the card went to the cemetery, as per the Deck Destruction Viruses effect.

"I now place two cards, face-down!" Yuuhi said. Come on Kaiba, summon one of your Blue-Eyes White Dragon's, Yuuhi thought.

"Please win, Yuuhi." Anzu whispered as she watched the duel that had just begun.

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End of Chapter 2

Please R&R!


	3. Battle of the BlueEyes

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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did T.T This is a work of fiction.

Chapter 3: Battle of the Blue-Eyes

Come on, Kaiba, Yuuhi urged Kaiba to make the move he wanted. Kaiba was still congratulating himself on catching Yuuhi with his Virus combo. He stopped his grand-standing long enough to draw his card.

"Activate Trap Card!" Yuuhi called, as he pressed the button on his Duel Disk that flipped one of his face-down cards. The card displayed a picture of an old wizard, with his hand extended outwards, magical symbols were displayed in the background. "This card is Force!"

"What does that do?" Kaiba growled.

"I'm glad you asked. This card basically does what it's name implies. It forces the activation of the card you just drew. If it is a Trap card, it will not activate because it wasn't reversed for a full turn, if it's a magic card, play it now, if it's a monster, summon it in defence mode, unless it's level is too high, if that is the case, discard it to the grave. Then you end your turn." Yuuhi explained.

Kaiba glanced at his card. Then set it on the duel disk in defence mode. "I summon my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave (1300/2000) in defence mode." Kaiba said in anger.

Yuuhi drew his card with a smirk. "I summon Medium of the Spirits (1300/1200) in defence mode. I also set one card face-down." As Yuuhi finished playing his cards, they appeared on the field. One more face-down card appeared beside Yuuhi's remaining card and then a woman wearing a red-robe carrying a necklace of blue beads appeared. She held the beads before her like a shield as she crouched low to the ground.

Kaiba drew his card, and burst into a laugh. "The card I have just drawn will seal this match for me, are you prepared, Mutou?!" Kaiba laughed again as he set his new card on his Duel Disk and activated it. "The Magic Card, Cost Down! This all-powerful Magic card lowers the level of all monsters in my hand by two! Meaning higher level monsters need only one sacrifice! Now, I offer my Dragon Dwelling in the Cave to summon my ultimate monster: Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)!" The four-legged dragon that was on the field was engulfed in a bright, white light, and in where it once stood, a new, more powerful dragon was appearing. Spreading it's bat-like wings wide, and an ear-splitting roar, the Silver dragon burst onto the field.

"I was waiting for that, Kaiba! For the mere cost of 1000 Life Points, my Medium of the Spirit can activate one of your Magic cards from the cemetery, and I choose your Shrink card!" On the Life Point display on the Duel Disk, Yuuhi's Life Points dropped to 3000. "Now that your Dragon's attack is below 2000, I can activate my Trap Card, Chain Destruction! This card will now destroy every copy of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in your hand, and deck!" From the now face-up Trap, a spiked chain erupted and lanced through a card in Kaiba's hand, and then swerved and entered his deck.

Kaiba swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched the smoke billowing from his deck. He sent both of his Dragon's to the grave. "I can still destroy your girlfriend there." Kaiba pointed towards the red-robed beauty. "Go, my Dragon! Burst Stream Attack!" The dragon's jaw opened wide, and a stream of pure white energy burst from it's mouth like a cannon.

"I was waiting for that, too!" Yuuhi pressed another button on his Duel Disk and Yuuhi's second face-down card came up. "Raise Dead! I can revive any monster I want, and I choose one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons I made you send to the cemetery!"

The golden ankh of the Magic card appeared on the field in front of the bead-wielding spiritualist, and from the Ankh, burst one of Kaiba's great Dragons. With a mighty roar, it engulfed the Burst Stream from the weaker Dragon, and sent it's own rocketing towards it's attacker. The weaker dragon exploded in a blinding flash of light. As a result, Kaiba lost 1500 Life Points.

Y: 3000, K: 2500.

As the smoke was clearing, Yuuhi heard nothing but Kaiba chuckling. He looked up with a look of intense hate in his eyes.

"You made a mistake by summoning one of my Dragon's, Mutou. Mark my words, you won't have it much longer!" Kaiba ended his threat by placing his last two cards face-down. "Attack if you think you have the courage!"

"He's taking this really seriously…" Yuuhi muttered to himself as he drew his card.

****

Yuugi gave a hearty knock on Ryou's door. He wasn't sure if Ryou was awake, and it would have to be Ryou to answer the door anyway. He lived on his own. Honda, Jounouchi and Otogi were standing behind Yuugi as they waited for the answer from the door. Otogi had caught up with Yuugi and company on the way. Yuugi gave another knock. They heard the lock click, and the door open, as a sleepy Ryou stood in the frame, wearing nothing but a pair of pyjama pants and rubbing his eyes.

"What's up?" Ryou said groggily.

"You feeling all right?" Yuugi asked his fair-haired friends.

"I feel fine, I just didn't get a lot of sleep tonight." He commented, running a hand through his hair, attempting to get it out of his eyes and face.

The four seemed to accept his excuse.

//Yuugi, does something seem odd to you?// Yami asked the smaller boy.

//How do you mean?// Yuugi asked the spirit.

//Ryou is normally a model student, and never skips. Even if he was tired, he still would have gone to school. Something more is going on here.//

//You're probably right, you think it has something to do with the spirit of the Ring?//

//If I had any money, I'd wager it all on that.//

"Ryou, can I talk to you for a moment?" Yuugi asked.

"Sure." Ryou said bewilderedly.

Ryou stood away from the frame and motioned for Yuugi to enter. Jounouchi, Honda and Otogi waited on the balcony-like hallway as the door closed behind the other two.

"Enough." Yami said, after he finished taking control of Yuugi's body. "Show yourself, spirit."

Ryou's eyes underwent a color-change as they went from hazel, to crimson. "Pharaoh. You have a lot of guts coming inside here by yourself." Bakura said threateningly.

"I've come to extend a warning. Leave my friend alone." Yami said, his eyes meeting Bakura's.

"Which one?" Bakura asked questioningly.

"All of them. If I find that any harm has come to them, I'll know to come and look for you." Yami said.

"An empty threat, Pharaoh. I do not fear you." Bakura said, as he crossed his arms across his bare chest.

"Regardless. You'll learn to if anything happens to them."

"I doubt that. Now get out, Ryou needs his sleep. We were out late last night." Bakura opened the door for Yami, and as soon as Yami had left, slammed the door behind him. He glanced down at his ring, one of the dangling pieces was pointing in the direction of the Puzzle as it slowly left the area. "I should have taken it." Bakura said regretfully.

****

Yuuhi glanced down at the card in his hand. He reversed a monster on the field and shifted his Medium of the Spirit to attack mode. "Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Medium of the Spirit, attack Kaiba directly!" Both of the monsters rose and attacked Kaiba. The robed woman attacked first, uttering a slight incantation, and a barrage of white plasma shot at Kaiba, the Blue-Eyes roared and sent it's Burst Stream at the seemingly-defenceless man before them.

"Activate Trap Card! Negate Attack! This card blocks your attacks, and ends your battle phase!"

The attacks from Yuuhi's two monsters collided harmlessly with the black, swirling vortex of energy that had sprung out from Kaiba's trap.

Yuuhi set one card and ended his turn. Kaiba drew his card for the turn. "I summon Blood Vors (1900/1000 ?) in attack mode, and now I activate my face-down card, Raise Dead! Using this, I target my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" With the same appearance it made last time, the Blue-Eyes returned to the field in it's draconic glory. "Now, Blue-Eyes, attack the other Blue-Eyes now! Burst Stream Attack!" The two dragons' attacks struggled and pushed against each other, neither giving any leeway. Until the blast could take no more pressure, and exploded, destroying both Dragons. "I told you Mutou, I told you. You were told that your control of my Dragon would not last much longer!"

"At least you're a man of your word, Kaiba." Yuuhi said icily.

"I always have been. My turn is not yet over though. Blood Vors! Attack Yuuhi's Medium of the Spirit!" Kaiba shook his index finger mockingly.

The heavily-muscled warrior on Kaiba's field wielding a weapon that looked like something right out of Star Trek, leapt at Yuuhi's red-robed Medium.

"Have you forgotten her effect so quickly, Kaiba?" Yuuhi asked.

"Not again!" Kaiba snapped incredulously.

"Yes, again! I pay 1000 Life Points to activate your Shrink Magic card, again!" Yuuhi's Life Point read-out displayed another loss of 1000 Life Points and Kaiba's Blood Vors shrunk, weakening it to a mere 850 attack points. Kaiba's attack ricocheted harmlessly off of the woman, and she retorted with an attack of her own. Giving a good, solid slap from her beads, Blood Vors burst into nothing. Kaiba lost 450 Life Points.

Y: 2000, K: 2050

Kaiba gritted his teeth as he could see what was coming next. On Yuuhi's turn, he could pay another 1000 Life Points to use Raise Dead from Kaiba's cemetery and resurrect a Blue-Eyes White Dragon again. Kaiba would lose on the next turn, with no cards in his hand, and no cards on the field to defend him. It all came down to whether or not Yuuhi was smart enough to figure out the winning move.

Yuuhi drew his card. "This is it, Kaiba. I've won this duel. I can attack you for so much damage… You put up a good fight though."

"Quit sugar-coating it and make your move." Kaiba spat through gritted teeth.

Yuuhi nodded, his hair spilling over his face. "I pay 1000 Life Points to activate your Raise Dead, bringing back your Blue-Eyes White Dragon." Yuuhi closed his eyes. "Blue-Eyes! Attack Kaiba directly with your Burst Stream!"

Y:1000, K:2050.

The dragon's mouth opened, and with a massive roar, fired the blast to end all blasts. Kaiba was hit directly in the chest, and he dropped to a knee, clutching at the point of impact. His breathing was ragged, and heavy. His Life Points were gone.

The holograms disappeared from the field, and Yuuhi removed the wristlet. With a pained, resigned sigh, Kaiba stood as well.

"How was the test?" Kaiba asked aloud.

"Test passed, Sir." A technician from the back said.

Yuuhi handed the Duel Disk to Kaiba. "Keep it." Kaiba said acidly. He stood, and turning on his heel, walked away.

Yuuhi looked over at Anzu, who was standing there, hardly believing the duel had gone the way it had. As far as she'd seen, only two people had ever beaten Kaiba: Pegasus J. Crawford, and Yuugi. Now, there was a third person on the list.

"That was amazing, Yuuhi." Anzu said, almost in awe.

"You think? I thought I was going to be completely overcome, the way he talked, and with his reputation and all." Yuuhi asked in shock.

"You're much better then you've given yourself credit for. Wait until I tell Yuugi about this, he'll be pretty impressed, I think." Anzu said excitedly.

"…Can we keep this between us, Anzu?" Yuuhi asked, using her name for the first time. Her cheeks flushed slightly. "As far as I'm concerned Kaiba can tell everybody he won this match. It doesn't matter to me really."

"A secret then?" Anzu asked, confused.

"Yeah. A secret. Can you keep it?" Yuuhi asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I guess, though I don't see why…" Anzu said quietly

"You know me, do you think I want all the publicity that Yuugi got for beating him? No thanks." Yuuhi laughed. "I'm not really a big fan of being in the public eye."

Anzu nodded. "Take me home, Yuuhi."

He nodded. The two left Kaiba's mansion, and set off for home.

****

Kaiba sat in his office, busily typing away at some documents, when a shorter boy with long dark hair, and wide, blue eyes walked in. He was dressed in a white and yellow striped sweater, with a pair of blue jeans and white socks, and a simple blue bandana around his neck.

"Hi, Seto." the boy said with a smile.

"Not now, Mokuba." Seto snapped, not looking up from his typing.

"I take it the duel didn't go well." Mokuba said, sympathetically.

Kaiba stopped his typing, after a moment's pause, he continued typing away. Mokuba sighed and trotted over behind the desk, he glanced at what Kaiba was typing. Magic and Wizards strategy. The duel didn't go well. That was Mokuba's impression anyway. He looked away, and with a regretful sigh, left his brothers office and made his way to the kitchen.

"Damn. I wish I'd seen more of his deck." Kaiba growled as he slammed his fist on the polished surface of his desk. "I'll need to observe more before I can come up with a strategy for defeating him." Kaiba intertwined his fingers on his left hand with his fingers from the right. Leaning forward, he looked at the percentage his computer gave, the percentage that would determine his decks fighting power against Yuuhi's, and it also gave a deduction of his decks theme. 43% chance of defeating Yuuhi, and what the computer thought was a deck destruction/manipulation theme.

Mark my words, Yuuhi: I will defeat you, Kaiba thought with unwavering resolve.

With that, Kaiba was once again swallowed by the demon of revenge…

****

End of Chapter 3

Please R&R! Criticism (the constructive kind) is gladly accepted!


	4. The Dark Jackals

Fieren: Jeez. I have received no reviews. It's sort of disheartening actually. Oh well, I shall continue to write! It's actually difficult to tell if people have even been reading it. Oh well, I needed to get that out. If anyone is even reading, thanks for listening ^.^.

****

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did T.T This is a work of fiction,

Chapter 4: Dark Jackals

Yuugi tossed and turned in his sleep. Ever since Yuuhi stepped back into his life, he'd been plagued with nightmares, and he couldn't seem to shake the feeling of déjà vu. Sweat began to pour from his hairline, making his forehead glisten in the moonlight shining in from the window. His amethyst eyes snapped open and he shot up into a sitting position. Heavy breathing and quickened pulse rate gave away feelings of fright.

//Nightmares again?// Yami asked from his sitting position on Yuugi's desk chair.

"Yeah." Yuugi murmured to himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his pyjama sleeve. He knew Yami would hear him, no matter how low he spoke.

//The key to dealing with them is to tell yourself it's all nothing but a dream.// Yami said reassuringly.

Yuugi stood up and slipped his feet into his bunny slippers. "You have nightmares too, right?" Yuugi asked the spirit.

//I do, however… With all I've seen from my past, even though I don't remember it, something tells me to not fear them.// Yami replied quietly.

"It's too bad we lost the God Cards. I can't believe I let them be stolen from me…" Yuugi said mournfully.

//There was nothing to be done about it… We'll just have to find them again.// Yami said.

"Malik's organization has been looking into it, I received a letter from him about it yesterday, but the only thing about the thieves he's been able to dig up was their name." Yuugi said.

//The Dark Jackals.// Yami finished Yuugi's sentence.

Yuugi nodded as he opened his bedroom door and attempted to quietly make his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. He cringed as he stepped on the one floorboard that creaked. He mentally cursed himself as he continued on his way. As Yuugi entered the small, tidy kitchen, he flicked the light switch into the on position, and then adjusted the brightness with the dimmer switch. Having done that, and giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the change, he made his way to the cupboard, where the glasses were kept. Taking a small one, with some writing on it, he made his way to the tap and adjusted the faucet until cold water poured from it. As soon as the glass was as full as he'd wanted it, he turned off the taps, and heartily drank the water, allowing it's cold goodness soothe him. Yuugi always came to the kitchen after a nightmare to fetch a glass of water.

After downing the contents of the glass, Yuugi glanced at the microwave for the time, and found that it was 1:00 am. With a sigh, he put his glass into the sink, and made his way back to his room, making sure to steer clear from the creaky floorboard. As he re-entered his room, he shot a quick glance to his computer screen, and found that he'd received a new e-mail message. He went to his desk and sat, Yami had moved from the chair to make way for him. With a movement of the mouse, and a few clicks of the keyboard, Yuugi had accessed his mail. Surprisingly, it was from Malik. Yuugi clicked the link to open the page, and began to read the message:

Pharaoh,

I have managed to get a hold of a computer as you can clearly see. I will also be moving to Domino soon with Isis and Rishid. That is not why I am sending you this message, however. I am sending this to extend a warning. Before Isis gave you her Millennium Item, she had received one last vision. She saw an impending danger for you, but since it seemed to be unimportant at the time, thanks to Marik, she neglected to tell you. She has brought this vision to my attention now: A danger from the past will return to haunt you, and through a familiar presense, it shall act to hurt you. I've no idea what this could possibly mean, as most of the vision has blurred over the course o f the year, secondly, Isis received this vision after her loss to Kaiba, when she thought that the Necklace was lying to her, or showing incomplete futures. There is no real telling what it could possibly mean then. I am sorry that this warning was so vague, and the most I can do is offer support when I return to Domino.

There is another reason I sent this message. My Ghouls have closed in on the thieving Dark Jackals. Last sighted, they were in China, and moving steadily east. I can only assume at this point that they are returning to Domino to attempt to take from you your vessel to this world: The Millennium Puzzle. They are most likely going to be armed with the Egyptian God's as well. Exercise extreme caution, my Pharaoh. The Dark Jackals are far more dangerous then they appear to be, and I fear they may be in possession of a Millennium Item, though I cannot even begin to guess which one. You are in possession of three, Bakura possesses two, and that mysterious individual, Shadi, is supposed to have the other two. The most I can assume, is Bakura is linked to the Dark Jackals, or they have stolen Shadi's, unless you have lost one or two of yours.

Once again, I apologize for not being as helpful as a servant of the Pharaoh should be. I hope in your forgiving nature that you forgive me.

Your Servant,

Malik Ishtar.

Yuugi saved the e-mail away, and turned to Yami. The Pharaoh seemed deeply concerned, and deep in thought. Yuugi decided not to disturb him, as he made his way back to his bed and after kicking off his slippers, climbed into bed, where he slept for the rest of the night, in undisturbed peace.

****

At a desk, in a poorly lit room, sat a tanned man, in possibly his early twenties, with platinum blonde hair and deep violet, almost blue, eyes. With a pained sigh, he turned off the computer and ran a hand through his hair.

"I hope the Pharaoh received this." he said, not knowing if he had typed in the right address.

From the door in the back of the room, came a slight knock. The blond turned and looked, as it eased open.

"Master Malik, you should sleep." Came a deep voice from beyond the door. He poked his head in the door. The man was more tanned then Malik, and had his hair almost entirely shaved off. On his face, were scars from a ritual that he had performed some few years ago.

"I know Rishid, we're moving tomorrow. I'll get some sleep." Malik replied in a near aggravated tone. Malik had appreciated Rishid's gesture, but deemed it unnecessary, as he was about to sleep anyway. "You know, you don't have to call me Master anymore." Malik chided.

"Old habits die hard, brother." Rishid said with a smile. His entire life had led up to the moment when he would officially become an Ishtar. "Isis was just wondering what you were up to as well."

"Exactly what she asked of me, I just finished sending a message to the Pharaoh." Malik said as he stood from the chair and stretched, his black shirt lifted slightly as he did so. "I'm off to bed." Malik said tiredly.

Malik eased past Rishid and made his way down the hall to his room, which was sparsely decorated. All there was really was a mattress, and some pillows and blankets. His suitcase was also laying, opened on the ground away from the door. Clothes, dirty and clean were scattered everywhere. Malik didn't mind the mess though, he would clean it in the morning. As he slipped under the blankets, he soon drifted off into a deep sleep.

Out in the den, seated on the sofa sat a woman dressed all in white. Her dress opened in the front slightly, revealing tanned legs. She was reading a rather large book, her pale, blue eyes scanning the pages. She had black hair, pulled back away from her face, and it's length spilled out down her back. She looked up only briefly when her brother entered his room. Normally she wouldn't have noticed, but the floor creaked slightly. These were not the best living arrangements, but since they were only temporary, she, Malik and Rishid would put up with it. She turned back to her book before she was disturbed again, this time by Rishid.

"He sent the message, Isis." Rishid said, seating himself on a chair across the room.

"Good." Isis said, she was preoccupied with her book, otherwise she would have said more on the subject.

Rishid, realizing the conversation wasn't going anywhere, stood and left for his room, which was actually a storage closet. He didn't mind though, all he did was sleep in it anyway, and Rishid would sleep on just about anything, if it would give more comfort to his "siblings". He laid down on his sheets, and also soon fell into a sleep.

Out in the den, Isis had fallen asleep with her book as well. The Ishtar home was in silence, save only for the light snoring coming from Malik's room.

****

It was early morning, and Yuugi and Yuuhi had just arrived at school. They walked in through the front door, and Yuuhi angled off towards the office, presumably to pick up his uniform. Yuugi, on the other hand decided to go to the roof, where his friends always met him in the mornings. As he trekked up the roof-access stairs, he saw various groups talking and exchanging notes. As he opened the door to the roof, he looked out to see Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda and Ryou.

"Good morning, Yuugi." Ryou said cheerfully.

"Yeah, right." Yuugi snorted. "I got no sleep last night. Weird dreams kept me awake." Yuugi yawned.

As he finished, Jounouchi piped up. "The teacher's pissed at me. He found out I'd skipped out on my detention from yesterday."

"You should've gone. I appreciated having you all come see me, but you should have gone and served your time." Ryou chided meaningfully.

"Clearly you've never had detention before." Jounouchi said as he stretched.

"No, I haven't. That's what you get for being a good student." Ryou said as he folded his arms across his chest. "By the way, how come you didn't come to see me yesterday, Anzu?" Ryou asked.

"I was with Yuuhi." Anzu replied, slightly evasively.

"What did Kaiba want, anyway?" Yuugi asked.

"You can probably guess he was angry." Anzu said.

"Thanks Captain Obvious." Jounouchi snorted.

"Let me finish. He basically wanted to settle accounts with a duel." Anzu finished.

"It seemed like Yuuhi wanted to put some boot to ass for his brother though." Jounouchi finished.

"Yuuhi was surprised that Kaiba didn't want to fight him. So, they dueled." Anzu said. "There's really nothing more to say about it then that." She shook her head from side to side, her hair swaying along with it.

"They dueled, eh?" Honda asked. "Who won?"

Anzu was about to tell them of Yuuhi's victory, when the conversation they had flooded back to her.

~~~~~~

"…Can we keep this between us, Anzu?" Yuuhi asked, using her name for the first time. Her cheeks flushed slightly. "As far as I'm concerned Kaiba can tell everybody he won this match. It doesn't matter to me really."

"A secret then?" Anzu asked, confused.

"Yeah. A secret. Can you keep it?" Yuuhi asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

~~~~~~

"Because of a test they were performing on the new Duel Disk models, I wasn't allowed to watch." Anzu supplied, somewhat hastily. "I was kind of irked about it myself, and when I asked Yuuhi about it when he left, he wouldn't tell me."

"I hope that doesn't mean he lost. I was looking forward to having someone putting Money Bags in his place. I'd have gladly done it myself, but, I had detention." Jounouchi said.

"Jou, you skipped your detention and went to visit Ryou." Yuugi said, slapping a hand to his forehead.

Jounouchi just chuckled, and stood up, dusting the dirt off of the part of his pants he'd been seated on. He opened the door that led down onto the stairwell, and the door closed behind him. The group of four looked down in confusion, as their normally loudmouthed friend left them without a word.

As he descended the stairs, Jounouchi thought about what could have happened between Yuuhi and Kaiba, he knew so little. He'd only just met Yuuhi two days ago, and he already regarded him as almost as close a friend as Yuugi or Honda. That nagging feeling that something interesting had happened kept gnawing at him. Something interesting, that he didn't get the chance to see. He clenched his fists in his pockets as he thought about what he'd say to his new friend. He didn't have much time to think, before Yuuhi appeared on the landing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Good morning, Jounouchi." Yuuhi said with a friendly smile.

"Yuuhi, we gotta talk." Jounouchi said as he led Yuuhi away by his arm.

They made their way down the halls, and soon came to a deserted hall, with many unused lockers.

"What's up?" Yuuhi asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Why did you stand up for me?" Jounouchi asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" Yuuhi asked.

"Kaiba was directing his smug arrogance at me, not you, but you diverted his attention, and got him away from me. I was looking forward to him picking a fight, I wanted a chance to show him I wasn't as lame as he thinks I am." Jounouchi gritted his teeth.

"What're you saying?" Yuuhi asked.

"What I'm saying is, next time: Stay out of it. Kaiba is my problem."

After a moments consideration, Yuuhi nodded. "Okay Jounouchi, you have my word."

"Cool." Jounouchi grinned. "How did the duel with him go anyway?"

"It went all right."

"You didn't lose did you?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

"GIMME A STRAIGHT ANSWER!" Jounouchi raged.

"I won." Yuuhi said simply. "Because you're my friend, Jounouchi, I trust you with that secret. I don't want others knowing, because I hate being in the spotlight, okay? Can I have your word that this'll stay between you, Anzu, and me?" Jounouchi nodded his reply. "Good." Yuuhi smiled. "By the way, I came up for this way for you to sleep in class without snoring, or closing your eyes, it goes like this…"

****

Meanwhile, in the harbor, a magnificent yacht pulled in to the docks. On it were many odd symbols, but the most prominent, was the Jackal emblazoned on both sides of the vessel. On the decks, several men and women in robes were gathered. They stood in silence as a tall dark-haired man with a jackal tattooed on his face stood before them.

"The Master wishes for us to seize the Pharaoh's friends. All research indicates that most of his courage stems from his friends, remove them, and we have ourselves a weak child, scared and alone. Have I made myself clear?" The dark-haired man said.

Each robed-person placed their right hand atop their hearts and took a knee. "Sir!" They said in unison.

"Go forth into the town of Domino and make the Master proud! Your first target: Jounouchi Katsuya!"

****

End of Chapter 4

Please R&R!


	5. First Target

****

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did T.T This is a work of fiction.

Chapter 5: First Target

The man with the jackal tattoo watched and smirked as his men set off into Domino to search out their quarry, Jounouchi Katsuya. He turned, and the wind caught his raven black hair, he closed his eyes to shield them from the winds relentless assault. He stopped when he noticed that one of his underlings, a tall, shapely red-haired woman, was still kneeling before him.

"Master Laevenne… Why did the Master not come with us?" she asked, looking up with uncertainty plastered all over her ice blue eyes.

"The Master does not explain himself to me, Ryoko, as well he shouldn't. I wouldn't be worthy to hear what his mind concocts. All he told me was take a group of our best men to Domino, and steal the Puzzle from the Pharaoh. Perhaps he deemed such a task not worthy of his presence." Laevenne replied. His obsidian eyes betrayed no emotion, as ever.

"Do you wish for me to search out the boy as well?" Ryoko asked, bowing her head.

"No. Some should stay behind onboard." Laevenne smiled, he favoured Ryoko, and valued her service more then any other. "I'll be in my quarters, disturb me only if a message from the Master comes." Laevenne said as he brushed past his read-headed second.

Ryoko looked off after Laevenne, a man of whom she held in great regard, as he disappeared below deck. She hooked some of her long hair behind an ear, removing it from her face. She could never help but think that her raven-haired superior should be the leader of the sect, but the Master held the power, a fact she always resented. She stood, her dark robe being caught in the wind, and she made her way to the bridge.

School let out and Jounouchi was just walking down the street with Honda and Otogi. Yuugi, Anzu and Yuuhi had other plans, and Ryou had gone home. Jounouchi was going to the train station to meet with his sister, Shizuka, who was coming to dinner. Jounouchi didn't have much of a home, but it was better then living with his father. His father had many debts and gambling problems, and he was also an alcoholic. Needless to say, he was a bum, and when Jounouchi had gotten fed up, he took the matter to court, and got himself emancipated. He now had a small apartment that was sparsely decorated and in the same neighbourhood as Honda. His mother paid for it, glad to have her son away from his deadbeat of a father, but still saddened by the fact that Jounouchi would not move so far to live with her.

"You guys don't have to come you know." Jounouchi grumbled, glancing back at two of his younger sisters constant pursuers: Honda and Otogi.

Otogi smirked and his die-earring moved as he inclined his head. "I do. Shizuka must've missed me, it's Honda that shouldn't be here."

"What Shizuka needs is stability, and with you and your little "fan club" I wouldn't really trust you myself." Honda said.

"That hurts, it really hurts. Those people just can't seem to get enough of my wit, charm and good looks." Otogi said with a shrug.

"You mean your ego doesn't get in the way of that?" Honda asked.

"Not in the slightest. Women dig the arrogant hot-guy look. If you weren't so homely and pathetic you might even be able to pull it off yourself." Otogi retorted.

"Would you two shaddup and get lost?!" Jounouchi roared. "I don't need either of you cradle-robbers after my little sister!"

"She's not that much younger, Jounouchi." Otogi commented with an emphasis on the word younger. "Besides, when I set my sights on someone, I intend to follow through."

"Not if you're not invited in. Get lost, both of you. Tonight is all about spending time with my sister, which I neglected to do on the weekend, I was busy with Mai, whom I see even less." Jounouchi snapped. He knew he'd made himself clear when Honda and Otogi turned and walked in the opposite direction. Both were fairly upset.

Jounouchi sighed as he continued on alone. It would take him at least another fifteen minutes to make it to the train station. As he continued forward, he found a dented soup can and began kicking it to pass the time. Almost all of Jounouchi's concentration was on the can, until he heard a sudden stop from it's rattling. Jounouchi looked up to see three robed people, too tall and wide to be women. One of them had the can crunched under his foot. Jounouchi gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, he knew what these people wanted: trouble.

"This is the one." One rasped.

"Yes, the one the Master told us of." Another one replied, in a nasally high-pitched voice.

"How shall we act on this?" The third one asked to the others. His voice was rough, and sounded gritty.

Jounouchi clenched his fists tighter, his fingernails digging into his palms. In an instant, the three advanced at high speeds. Jounouchi jumped back and avoided a punch from one of them, Jounouchi dodged punches from the other two and sent some of his own. Hitting the raspy-voiced one in the chest, and the nasal one in the abdomen, the third one backed off slightly, obviously losing confidence now that his friends were hurt. Jounouchi may not have been very big, but he packed a hell of a punch, and Jounouchi made it a point to let anyone who picked a fight with him know about it.

"You still want some, tough guy?" Jounouchi asked. "You shoulda known better then to pick a fight with the likes of Jounouchi Katsuya." Jounouchi ended his remark by jabbing his thumb into his chest.

The gritty-voiced one stepped back a pace. "We can settle this another way then." He smirked.

"Magic and Wizards? That's an even bigger mistake then fighting me."

"This has happened before it would seem. I challenge you!"

Jounouchi shook his head in disgust. "You've got a lot of nerve. First you got the balls to attack me, and now you challenge me to a duel? You're nuts, pal." Jounouchi shrugged. "But, a challenge is a challenge."

Jounouchi took off his backpack and dug through it until his hand landed on his Duel Disk, the one he'd used in the Battle City tournament. From underneath one of his robes, the raspy one pulled a Duel Disk of his own. It was different by a long shot. The shape was sickle-bladed in appearance, and black. Both slipped them on over their left forearms and clipped them into place. Allowing the Duel Disks to flip around, both players readied themselves for the match. Jounouchi slipped his deck in, and his Life Point read-out displayed the number 4000, they then climbed to 8000.

"What the-? Jounouchi asked in shock. "New rules?!"

"Not quite. One of the newest rules instated by Industrial Illusions is that duels be played using 8000 Life Points. Battle City taught them that 4000 was too light, as most duels ended before they had a chance to begin. If this is too much, you can forfeit." The raspy one said.

"4000 or 8000 makes no difference to me, your ass is grass all the same." Jounouchi shrugged. "I mean come on… I placed second in Duelist Kingdom, and fourth in Battle City (only because that damned rich boy beat me)! You've got a snowballs chance in hell of beating me!"

Underneath the shadows cast by the hood of the robe, the man smirked, his shabby facial hair catching in the light from a streetlamp. Jounouchi took the first draw.

"You're in trouble already! I summon Landstar Swordsman (500/1200) in attack mode and set two cards face down! Your move, you robed freak show." In front of Jounouchi, two face-down vertical cards appeared and a tiny little wingless fairy appeared, he brandished a sword and shield, and he gave a goofy smile.

The robed man drew his card and placed it into his hand. "I'll start things off by playing the Magic Card, Heavy Storm!" From the card on the field, a giant tornado kicked up, destroying both of Jounouchi's face-down cards. Jounouchi looked with a grimace as his opening-move strategy, Angel's Dice and Demon's Dice was destroyed by a single card. "Now, I'll summon Shining Angel (1600/1800) in attack mode!"

Before the robed man, a very odd-looking creature appeared. It was blue and appeared to be made out of spheres. It had arms and wings, and what looked to be a ball with five points for a head.

"I'll now destroy your Landstar Swordsman." He said simply. The blue angel flew towards the tiny swordsman and thrust it's palms at the pint-sized creature. The little warrior was vaporized.

J: 6900, RM: 8000

Jounouchi drew and took a single glance at his card. It was a very strong monster, and he couldn't summon it yet. Instead, he turned to his strongest monster that he could summon now. He plucked it from his hand and set it on the Duel Disk.

"I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600)!" Jounouchi took one other card from his hand and put it on the field. "I also set one card face down. Now to take revenge for my swordsman! Gearfried: Attack Shining Angel, now!"

The iron-clad warrior, lifted it's sword-arm into striking position and leapt at the blue-winged angel. Bringing it's bladed fist down on the creature, it shattered into oblivion.

J: 6900, RM: 7800

"Well done. You've managed to destroy one of my monsters, and my Life Points are still higher then yours." The robed man mocked. "I don't think you're quite as good as you played yourself out to be."

"I'm not even serious right now. Nothing lost or gained from this, so I don't see the need to open the can (A/N of whoop-ass he means .) on your sorry ass."

"Would a penalty goad you into fighting for real?"

"Like?"

"If I win, my cohorts and I do what we want with you, if you win, you walk free."

"It seems to me like I can deal with you and your wussy friends anyway. I still don't see the threat." Jounouchi snickered.

The robed man's face twisted into a frown. "How about this then: Lose, and we kill you."

"Like I'm going to let you kill me." Jounouchi snorted.

"Win, and we won't." The robed man said in a tone that spoke entire measures of the utmost sincerity.

These guys are freaks, Jounouchi concluded. "I'm not making a bullshit deal like that. You can kiss the fattest part of your ugly friends' asses over there." Jounouchi pointed back to the robed men who still had not stood. "Make me a wager, something I'll agree to maybe."

The robed man scowled. "Would wagering your deck suffice?"

"Now that is a challenge, but what do I get from you?" Jounouchi asked.

"My deck of course, but I won't lose."

"Someone has to, and it ain't gonna be me." Jounouchi stated confidently. "Your going down, and your deck is mine." A wind kicked up, stirring up fallen papers and garbage, and they blew across the deserted street. "Hurry up and make your move. I've got somewhere to be." Jounouchi said impatiently as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Good moves take time." the robed man said.

Yuugi was walking with Anzu, Yuuhi had left them some time ago when they neared the Game Shop. Yuugi had his hands in his pockets, and his face was pointed towards the ground. Yuugi had trouble looking at Anzu when they were alone. She was beautiful to him, and a lot of other people.

"You wanna tell me about your nightmare, Yuugi? It might help to get it off your chest." Anzu offered. "I'll listen."

Yuugi looked up at his childhood friend. Her hair was concealing most of her face at the moment, due to the wind. Planting his eyes firmly on the ground again, Yuugi heaved a sigh of sorrow.

"My nightmare took place eight years ago." Yuugi started. "Before the divorce, and my family was still whole. I was being constantly tormented by Yuuhi. He was such an overbearing jerk." Yuugi said quietly.

"He's changed though." Anzu reminded her short friend.

"I know, but then, I remembered something, one day, he started acting weird, and said stuff I didn't understand. You were there too."

"I don't remember anything like that happening, it was probably part of the dream." Anzu said reassuringly.

"That's what I thought, but it seemed so real, like it had actually happened real. Then I woke up, and Yami told me he'd understood what Yuuhi'd been saying. He couldn't translate it very well though. It was at that point I started to think that it was partly Yami's dream too." Yuugi said.

"It doesn't seem so bad." Anzu said.

"It really doesn't, but that's because I don't want to go into visual detail or anything like that. It was disgusting." Yuugi shuddered.

Could any of that have actually happened. A million thoughts were racing through Anzu's mind, and all of them were seeking out any memory she had and could still remember of her time spent with the Mutou brothers eight years ago. She didn't remember much. Anzu's thoughts then turned to the Yuuhi of now. He had definitely changed, Yuugi had no reason to be having such nightmares about his brother, who stood up to Seto for him. Bending down, she gave Yuugi a quick, friendly hug. One that was both reassuring, and pleasurable to the diminutive Yuugi.

"I don't remember anything like that, Yuugi. I'm sure what you were thinking about it partly being Yami's dream was true." Anzu said.

Yuugi half-heartedly nodded his agreement. "You're probably right, Anzu. Thanks for talking to me about it."

"No problem. Anyway, I've got to get going. I have a dance class tonight." Anzu turned and headed off in the direction of her house. Yuugi turned and walked home.

"I summon my Injection Angel Lily (400/1500) in attack mode! I'll pay 2000 Life Points to activate her effect! It increases her attack points by 3000 points!" On the field, a red-haired nurse with a giant needle appeared on the field. As the robed man paid the activation cost, the needle tripled in size. "Attack Gearfried the Iron Knight now!"

The needle-wielding nurse fly towards the iron warrior and jabbed him with her needle. With a roar of pain, the mechanical soldier burst into several fragments of light.

J: 5300, RM:5800

Jounouchi looked with a grimace at the field before him. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he steeled himself. It was time to get serious. He drew from his deck, and took a look at the card.

"I play the Magic card Pot of Greed! This card allows me to draw two new cards from my deck. Now I'll activate my Magic card, Foolish Burial! This card allows me to place one card from my hand into your cemetery! Now, I'll activate another Magic Card, Shield and Sword! This card reverses the attack and defence statistics of all monsters on the field, and now, to finish my move, I'll activate Raise Dead to resurrect the Android Psycho Shocker (2400/1500) that I put into your cemetery using my Foolish Burial card!" After several activations of Magic cards, finally, Jounouchi's five card combo was complete, and his hand was nearly exhausted. Jounouchi smirked as he looked up. "Go, Android Psycho Shocker, attack and destroy Injection Angel Lily!"

The tall, green-armoured android placed it's hands together and a ball of electric, red energy formed. The pink-skinned android threw the energy ball at the nurse and annihilated it.

J: 5300, RM: 4900

"So much for your little friend there. Now, hurry up and make your next move. I have a life to get on with." Jounouchi said impatiently.

The robed man just glared from underneath his hood, and drew his card.

****

End of Chapter 5

Please R&R!


	6. Double Threat

Fieren: Wow, I have actually gotten reviews. Thanks to all who've been reading. I really appreciate having my work being read. I apologize for not updating for a while, I've had a bit of writers block, but I hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint.

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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! Though I wish I did T.T

Chapter 6: Double Threat

The robed man grimaced at the card he drew. Not helpful in the slightest. Especially not with the Android Psycho Shocker dominating the field. The robed man looked at his hand, all traps with the exception of one very useless monster. It's points were low and it had no effect, but he liked it. With a sigh, he set it on the field in reversed position.

"I set one monster and end my turn." He said after swallowing a lump in his throat.

Jounouchi drew and glanced at his card only briefly. "I like this card. I got it a while ago." Jounouchi set it into the Magic zone and pressed the button that would activate it. "I send this card from my hand to the cemetery to destroy one of your monsters. Tribute to the Doomed is great ain't it?" Jounouchi laughed as the robed man's monster was swallowed by mummy bandages and squeezed to death. "Now I summon Baby Dragon (1200/800) in attack mode!" The tiny yellow dragon burst onto the field and growled. "Both of my monsters are attacking you directly!"

The dragon and the android both leapt at the man, and as he watched in fear, the monsters slammed into him, and he fell to the ground, his chest heaving. More then half of his life points were gone. He had almost lost a full seven eighths.

J: 5300, RM: 1300

"A lucky move, boy. I will win this match though." The robed man drew from his deck and burst into a grin. "I activate Raise Dead on my Injection Angel Lily! The pink-haired nurse re-appeared and winked at the dumbfounded Jounouchi.

"You don't even have the Life Points to pay! What a jackass move that was!" Jounouchi laughed and just kept on laughing.

"I don't have the Life Points yet. I now activate God's Grace. This Magic card increases my Life Points by 2000, is it a jackass move now? You should really wait until people finish up before you jump to conclusions like that. I'm not done either. I now activate Thunder Bolt! This all-mighty (A/N: For once that's true. Hah!) Magic card will annihilate all of your monsters!"

From the sky, a black cloud appeared, and two bolts of lightning struck Baby Dragon and Android Psycho Shocker, both burst into red flames and disappeared. Jounouchi was in shock. He had no hand or anything on the field.

"Now I'll pay my 2000 Life points and raise my Angel's attack points by another 3000!"

J: 5300, RM: 1300

The needle she was straddling grew in size, and launched at Jounouchi. It struck him right in the chest, and he fell to a knee. He looked at his Life Point read-out and saw his Life Points fall to 1900.

J: 1900, RM: 1300

"Another move like that and you'll have no Life Points left. This duel is in the bag." The robed man laughed as Jounouchi drew his card.

"I play the Magic card, Scapegoat." Four goat tokens appeared on the field.

"A small reprieve from damage." The robed man drew his card and ordered his attack. One goat was wiped out by the red-haired angel.

Jounouchi drew his card and set it into the magic/trap zone. He then ended his turn.

"No snappy quips? Nothing at all?" The robed man laughed and drew. He ordered his attack again, and the angelic nurse crushed another goat.

Jounouchi drew. "Wow… All that grand-standing and you failed to even keep yourself defended? You're an idiot! I play Alligator Sword in attack mode (1500/1200) and now I'll activate Graverobber, I'll activate your Thunder Bolt magic card!"

The pink-skinned tomb thief grabbed the green-backed card and set it loose on the robed man's monster. In a dazzling display of lightning and thunder, the Injection Angel Lily was wiped out in the same way that Baby Dragon and Android Psycho Shocker had been.

"Now, take out the rest of his Life Points!" The green, leathery-skinned, armoured reptile leapt at the robed man and slashed him right down the chest. He screamed out and fell on his back. His Life Points were gone, and Jounouchi had won his entire deck.

The holograms disappeared, and Jounouchi stepped towards the sprawled out man, from his Duel Disk, he snatched his cards. With a muttered thanks, Jounouchi gathered his things and continued on towards the train station. His sister was waiting for him. Jounouchi glanced down at his watch, and realized he was fifteen minutes late, he took off down the road, and was gone. The robed man propped himself up on his elbows. His cohorts were also just getting their breath back.

"Master Laevenne will not be pleased about this, Ronald." The shortest of the three said.

"I know." Ronald said through gritted teeth.

Seto strode down a long, sterile hall. His dark coat was trailing behind him. The R&D Division of KaibaCorp was one the tall young mans favorite places to be. He was putting through development the same Duel Disk that the elder Mutou had used. Seto clenched his fists and gritted his teeth at the memory. He had lost, horribly. His time in America had rusted his skills. That would change. Seto had steeled himself to revenge. A shorter man with brown hair and a white coat strode over to Seto.

"Welcome, Mr. Kaiba." The man said with a short bow.

"Drop the pleasantries, Doppler. How is the production going?" Seto continued walking, and Doppler began walking to keep up.

"The testing phase has been determined to be inconclusive. The manufacturing of the Disks themselves has proceeded on schedule, but the software behind them is glitchy." Doppler explained.

"Glitchy, how?" Seto asked in an aggravated tone.

"The solidification program has been acting up, and sending electric shocks through the user. It amazes me that the Mutou boy didn't experience this problem." Doppler said.

"You're easily amazed, Doppler. I hand-crafted the technology myself on that one. Your reverse engineers are poor. If they fail one more time on the programming, they're fired. Consider this their first and only warning, I expect you to deliver the message." Seto spat at the smaller man.

"Of course." Doppler said quietly.

Seto continued on down the hall, his coat billowing out behind him. Doppler glared, and flipped the brown-haired young man the bird.

Jounouchi walked into the station, and found his younger sister near the back, and the security guards room. She was timid, and scared easily. It had seemed like she'd changed in Battle City, but she had friends with her then, now, she was alone. Jounouchi sauntered over.

"Hey, Shizuka." He said, spreading his arms for her.

"Katsuya, what took so long?" Shizuka asked, obviously relieved now.

"I ran into a little unexpected trouble, but I dealt with it." Jounouchi beamed.

"That's my brother." Shizuka said proudly.

Jounouchi led the way from the station with his younger sister following. She had some cooking to do. Jou felt a little bad for making her cook, but, who was Jou kidding. He couldn't cook. As they were leaving the station, the three robed men were back.

"You guys just don't give up do you?" Jounouchi asked incredulously.

"We have a job to do, and we won't let you have us disappoint our Master." The one from before said.

"Get lost. I beat you losers already." Jounouchi said. He was getting mad.

Behind the robed men, came Yuuhi and Ryou. Yuuhi looked up and saw Jounouchi and his sister.

"Hey, Jou." Yuuhi called up.

The robed men looked back, and glared at Yuuhi and Ryou. Ryou took a step back, and Yuuhi just looked curiously at the men before him. He pointed at them.

"What's with these guys?" Yuuhi asked.

"There are three now, let's back off." The large one said.

The three dark-robed hoodlums took off into the busy streets, and left the four scratching their heads. Jounouchi looked down at Yuuhi and Ryou, he was lucky they'd come along. He knew Ryou was too timid to fight, but the spirit of the ring would protect him if he had to, and Jou wasn't sure about Yuuhi's ability to fight. Had it come to it, Jou knew he could've counted on them. He looked to his sister, who still looked very frightened. Yuuhi and Ryou climbed the stairs and stopped two steps down from Jou and Shizuka.

"What was that all about?" Yuuhi asked.

"Those assholes picked a fight earlier, ended up turning into a duel. Fucking sore loser, I tell you. That's why I was late, Shizuka." Jou turned to his sister.

"You couldn't just walk away?" She asked.

"They would have followed me, look what just happened!" Jou argued.

"Where're you two going?" Ryou asked quietly.

"Katsuya invited me over for dinner, also so I could see his new place." Shizuka answered.

"Is it far from here?" Yuuhi asked.

"Not really." Jou answered. "If you wanna be a big man and walk with me, be my guest, but I don't need help protecting my sister."

"I'm just trying to be helpful, Jou. There's no need to get all fussy." Yuuhi muttered as Jou and Shizuka descended the stairs, and turned into the street, and out of sight.

Yuuhi and Ryou left and continued on their way. Yuuhi had thought it odd that Ryou wanted to be friends. Originally, he had seemed sceptical, almost frightened of Yuuhi. Yuuhi had put that aside now, and was just walking around with his new friend, both eagerly searching for something to do with their time. As they walked down the crowded streets, they eventually came to an arcade. They went inside and found hordes of people surrounding someone at a fighting game machine. One guy moaned in agony. He then started talking, as the winner boasted.

"Any new challengers?" He asked to the room as Ryou and Yuuhi passed. They found another fighting game and input their money and started playing.

Ryou, what are you doing?Bakura asked his more timid hikari.

Playing a game, Bakura.Ryou answered quietly.

Have you noticed anything like what happened last time we saw this boy?Bakura asked.

No, I'm not as attuned to the magic of the Ring as you.Ryou answered.

You think I don't know that?!Bakura spat. Your only task is to look for any oddities, and you can't even do it, I should just take over and find out for myself.

No!

Excuse me? You want to die?Bakura threatened.

Ryou silenced himself, and surrendered control to Bakura. The light brown of Ryou's eyes glazed over, and were replaced with the harsh crimson of Bakura's. Yuuhi had finished the game during the change.

"So, Ryou, what do you want to do now?" Yuuhi asked. "Whooping your butt at a fighting game is good entertainment for a while, but, I'm bored of it now." Yuuhi laughed.

What would Ryou say to this, Bakura asked himself. "I actually think we should just keep walking around." That was lame.

"I've seen enough of the city today, I think. I'd actually like to go home. I'm a little tired." Yuuhi replied with a light yawn.

"No!" Bakura snapped. "I mean, come on, the night is young." Bakura replied, trying his best to look non-threatening after his lapse into his own personality.

"That's true, but…" Yuuhi said.

"No buts, we'll find something to do." Bakura ordered as the two marched out of the arcade, and back onto the street.

As the two entered the streets, they turned and came face-to-face with the same robed men from before, or so it would seem. The robes made appearances ambiguous and deceiving. They conversed silently for a moment, and then darted behind the two to block their escape.

"Bakura Ryou, we challenge you to a duel." One said.

Bakura's eyes narrowed at this, these fools did not know the horrors they were setting upon themselves…

Across town, Yuugi was walking home with his hands shoved into his pockets. He thought back to what Anzu had said about helping him with his nightmares. It was then that he realized she had borrowed one of his books that he'd need for his homework that night. He ran to catch up with her, she was running also, and her long dancer's legs would make it hard for Yuugi to catch her, but he would certainly try. It wasn't long before he turned into the park she had to pass through to get to her house, when Yuugi heard a familiar scream. Yami quickly took over Yuugi's body and ran as fast as he could. He soon found Anzu being surrounded by three robed men.

"Stop right there!" Yami roared at the men.

They turned, and their eyes met with Yami's. His eyes were like ice, cold, and hard. They spoke quietly to each other, then two of them grabbed Anzu and held her away, as the third moved in on Yami.

"Mutou Yuugi, leave now." He ordered.

"I don't think so." He replied icily. "Unhand Anzu and be on your way."

"I'm afraid it is my turn to decline, Pharaoh." The robed man cast his hood back. He had died green hair, and a ring through his left nostril. His eyes were sunken, making his features seem more ghoulish, and pronounced. "Let's settle this with a duel."

"Very well." Yami dug through Yuugi's backpack and pulled his Duel Disk. Yuugi and Jou often played during lunch hour on the roof. He pulled his deck out, and soon found the Life Points had changed from 4000 to 8000. A rule change.

"If I win, you surrender the Millennium Puzzle, and the girl is hours. If you win, she goes free."

"Why keep the girl?" Yami asked as he shuffled his deck.

"We're lonely men, Pharaoh." He leered back at Anzu. Yami looked helplessly at the situation.

"I agree to your terms. I will not lose!" Yami set his deck into his Duel Disk.

****

End of Chapter 6

Wow, I ought to have a barrel full of fun writing two duels at once sarcasm. Why would I do this to myself, you ask? I thought it was odd that I had not written Yami a duel yet, and since Bakura kicks arse, he deserved one too. Please R&R!


	7. Countdown to Destruction

Fieren: Hey, everyone. Thanks for continuing to read and review. Means so much to me. Either way, sorry things have been taking me so long to write my chapters again… Now that I have a few chapters up, I'm taking more time and trying to make things better. Also, I still have a sort of writers block, but at least my main plan is still up here taps forehead. Also, I've been pretty engrossed in the Naruto manga . Either way, I hope chapter seven here doesn't disappoint.

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Chapter 7: Countdown to Destruction

Yami glared hatefully at the man with the green hair. His friends behind him were holding Anzu captive. Yami gritted his teeth. He had to win to protect his friend. The green-haired punk leered back at her, and then turned back to Yami.

"So, Pharaoh… Who is graced with the first move?" He asked. His face belied the fact that he actually cared. This man was trying to goad Yami into anger with his calm appearance. If Yami hadn't noticed, he feared it would actually have worked.

"I'll move first." Yami drew a card from his deck, and with only a single glance, smirked inwardly. It was a promising hand he held. Held in it, was Black Magician (2500/2100), Yami, and Yuugi's favorite monster. Yami couldn't play it quite yet, however. Dark Magician's level was too high. Yami needed an offering so he could summon it, a double offering. So, Yami placed two cards face-down, and took one of his monster cards from his hand. "I'll summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600) in attack mode!" On the field, a tiny yellow rock with magnets covering it's body appeared. It stood upright and looked like it was ready to leap forward and start to pummel the opponent right from the start.

The man with the green hair drew from his deck, he glanced at his drawn card and looked at his hand. He took a card from his hand and set it on the field in defence mode. "I summon Knife-Throwing Murderer (1200/1700) in defence mode." A man wearing a tight-fitting pair of pants appeared on the field, crouched low, he wore many belts with knives on them, three were held in each hand, clenched between the fingers.

Yami drew his card and set it into the magic/trap zone. Yami then clicked the button on the Duel Disk that activates the card in the corresponding slot on the disk. "I activate my Magic card, Exile of the Wicked! This magic card allows me to destroy one demon-type monster on the field, for no cost, and since my Magnet Warrior is not a demon-type, the only other target is your Murderer!" A solemn-looking friar appeared, holding a bible. He spoke some meaningless religious jabber and the monster burst into flames. "Now I summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts (1500/1200) in attack mode! Now, I'll activate Hand Obliteration! This card forces us to send our entire hands to the cemetery, and draw a new hand! Yami set his hand gently into the cemetery opening on the Duel Disk, and drew three new cards. Now, I'll activate Premature Burial! I pay the low cost of 800 Life Points to revive one monster in my cemetery. I choose my Black Magician (2500/2100)!" From the ground, a hand burst forth, and then the ground split open, and the purple-armoured Magic-User appeared on the field, arms folded confidently across his chest. Now, in front of Yami, stood an imposing force. The Black Magician, flanked by Beta the Magnet Warrior and Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts. Yami stood confidently.

Y: 7200, GH: 8000

"To those who would threaten my friends, I show no mercy. You die after my next turn. Quit now." Yami said coldly.

The green-haired man stepped back, in fright. He looked down at his shaking hand, his cards threatening to fall from his hand. He took a glance around, and noticed a dark mist flowing through the air. Looking back at Yami, his eyes widened in fear. Glowing prominently on his forehead was the Eye of Anubis. This was a Game of Death.

Calmly, and coldly, Yami pointed his finger to the enemy. "Attack." The three monsters leapt forwards into the air and attacked him consecutively. First, came Gazelle, who slashed him across the chest, secondly came Beta who struck him hard in the chest also, then came the Black Magician, he spun his staff around like a baton and then a bolt of black magic shot from the staff and slammed headlong into Yami's ragged-breathing opponent. The bolt engulfed him, and with a cry of pain, the bolt ended, and he fell to his knees.

Y: 7200, GH: 2300

He looked up, jaw clenched. Holding his hand to his chest, where most of the attacks were focused. He drew, hand still shaking violently. Before he drew, Yami spoke up.

"If you quit now, nothing bad will happen. I'll let you walk away." Yami offered a chance for the green-haired man to save himself. Yami was exercising his merciful nature.

The green-haired man glared hatred at Yami, and continued to draw. "You sentence yourself to death if you draw that card." Yami warned. The man faltered, and continued to draw. He looked down at his hand, and a look of wide-eyed fear enveloped his face. In his hand, he held nothing but Magic cards.

Pleadingly, he looked up at Yami. "Is it too late to resign?"

"I warned if you drew that card, nothing but death awaited you." Yami said calmly. The green-haired man sobbed. "However, if you release Anzu, and tell me what you want, I'll let you go."

"I'll do it! Please don't kill me!" The man looked as though he were about ready to piss in his pants. Yami released the dark mist, and where the two other robed men were standing, they were still. Anzu looked relieved. "Let her go."

The two men released Anzu and she went and stood beside Yami. He looked to her. "Are you all right?" Anzu nodded her response, the relieved feeling still having not fleeted. "Okay, uphold your end of the bargain." Yami ordered.

The green-haired man looked back at his cohorts. "We were sent here…." He was cut off, as the two other robed men lunged at him with knives, plunging them into his back, the green haired man cried out in agony. They stabbed again, blood dripping in torrents onto the sidewalk now. He coughed up blood and fell forwards, his face colliding headlong into the pavement. The two men reached down and wiped off their knife blades with the end of his cloak.

"Such selfishness." One said.

"The Master would not be pleased with this. Not pleased in the slightest." The other spoke. Yami looked back at Anzu, who was holding back the urge to vomit. Most people were not accustomed to seeing someone murdered before their eyes. Yami had a stronger stomach though. Yuugi was horrified.

Why?Yuugi asked.

It seems as though their leader, or Master as they said would not like it if they spoke of their reasons.Yami replied.

"Should we continue?" The first one asked.

"No, our Triad is broken by the fall of the coward. We should retreat." The second answered.

"No! I still have questions!" Yami raged.

The two looked back at Yami, and then turned and ran. Yami started off after them, but then stopped and looked back at Anzu, who still had that sickly look of horror on her face. Yami looked menacingly off in the direction the men ran in, but then turned back to Anzu. Letting Yuugi gain control of his body, Yuugi began to walk towards Anzu. She had started crying.

"They just up and killed him…" She whispered. There was no other noise in the park though. Yuugi could hear her clearly. "Right in front of us…"

Yuugi placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she looked up with a start into his concerned face. "Don't worry so much about it Anzu." He tried to be more helpful, but his own disgust about what just happened was almost more than he could stomach.

"I don't think I'll be going to my dance class tonight, you'll walk me home, right?" Anzu asked, although pleaded was closer to what she actually sounded like.

Yuugi nodded and smiled warmly. He would take as much care of his friend as he possibly could. He helped her up, and together the two walked towards Anzu's home.

Bakura smirked menacingly at the robed man as the second later of the Ouija Board appeared above the field. "D", and "E". Bakura's hand was almost empty, and his only monster was the Ghost Duke (2000/1700). His Life Points weren't very low, and his victory was almost a certainty within three more rounds. (A/N: Yes, I did just cop out on the first portion of the duel with Bakura. I don't have a very good idea of most of the Occult cards in his deck. Guy didn't duel enough in the anime XP.) His opponent hadn't lost any Life Points. He'd been keeping himself remarkably well-defended, Bakura had deduced that his deck theme was all-out defence. It's size and monsters all but gave it away. Bakura's Life Point loss leading up to his point were when his attacks had ricocheted harmlessly off of high-defence monsters.

B:7000, RM: 8000

The robed man drew his card, and placed it in defence mode. Bakura sneered at the lack of strategy on this poor soon-to-be-lost souls part. Defence worked rather well, when you weren't about to lose in three turns. Bakura drew his card and ended his turn. The third letter appeared above the field. The "A". Bakura looked smugly out at his surroundings. Dark mist fluttering about everywhere. Bakura loved duelling in this place. He loved it more than he loved pudding pops (A/N: Bakura needs to love something, more than violence, right?), and that was saying quite a bit. Bakura really loved pudding pops. The robed man drew, and played defence. Predictable. What a horrid theme for a deck to have, Bakura thought. He drew and did nothing. This was turning into a very boring duel (A/N: I bet all my readers think so too . I swear he'll get a better one.). The fourth letter appeared. The "T".

"One more letter." Bakura said smugly. "One more letter spells out your fate."

The robed man swallowed the lump in his throat. He drew, and once again, played defence. Bakura spat at the ground as he completely skipped his Draw Phase and allowed the final letter to appear above the field. The "H". DEATH was the message spelt. One more letter spells out your demise. Bakura's cryptic message took on a whole new meaning to the robed man. Hanging from Bakura's neck, the Millennium Ring's Eye of Anubis glowed blindingly. The robed man fell over, stone dead.

"Such is the fate of those who lose in the Shadow Realm. Bakura looked to the remaining robed men, and glared. They ran away faster than their legs could carry them, and tripped quite a few times. Bakura laughed heartily at the display of foolishness before. He then turned back to Yuuhi, who had seen all that had happened. His facial expression hadn't changed much. Normally after watching someone die, people tend to react. Yuuhi remained calm though.

"What just happened?" Yuuhi asked Bakura.

"Exactly what I told him would happen. He would regret challenging me, and the message spelt out by the Ouija Board would predict his fate." Bakura chuckled.

"Death? You killed him?!" Yuuhi asked, his normally calm exterior melting away.

"Yes." Bakura answered simply.

"How?!"

Bakura really did **_not _**want to explain to Yuuhi the nature of the Magic the Ring gave him. Instead, Bakura tapped into more power of the ring, and erased Yuuhi's memories of the entire duel. It was too early to reveal to him the nature of the Magic, or his true self. Yuuhi's eyes glazed over, and Bakura could almost see the memories slipping from his mind. He stopped after a moment, and let Ryou take over again.

Don't disappoint me this time, Ryou.Bakura threatened.

Ryou waited for Yuuhi's eyes to return to normal, and then he spoke up. "Let's go get some pizza. Then call it a night." Ryou said.

"Fine with me." Yuuhi grinned. "I love pizza."

Honda and Otogi sat together in a karaoke café, both were dejected, and felt completely hopeless. Their coffee was getting cold, but neither seemed to care.

"Where does Jou get off telling us we can't see his sister?" Honda asked abruptly, slamming his fist down on the table.

Otogi looked up, uninterestedly. "Calm down, Honda. She is Jou's sister, and this is supposed to be their time together. I suppose I can understand why he doesn't want an idiot like you around her though." Otogi laughed.

"You want a fist in the mouth!?" Honda exploded at Otogi. Getting Honda mad was like shooting the broad side of a barn.

"That's what I mean, Honda. You're a brute. Face it, women like Shizuka aren't into the brawny, stupid, meat-headed, Honda Hiroto types." Otogi waved his hand at Honda.

"I suppose women like arrogant jerk-off's like you?" Honda asked with a laugh of his own.

"No, what women like about me is my debonair charm, my rapier wit, my movie star good looks… I prefer to call it Ryuji syndrome." Otogi laughed. Honda fumed.

"The money has nothing to do with it?" Honda raged.

"I suppose it's in there somewhere, a side-effect of Ryuji Syndrome." Otogi shrugged.

"So, I suppose Shizuka is immune to Ryuji Syndrome, she doesn't seem to be affected in any way by any of your symptoms." Honda said.

"I'll chip away at those soon enough." Otogi shrugged again. He started playing with his earring as Honda took a sip of his coffee. The door opened and both looked over and found the familiar face of Mai. Otogi stood and waved her over. She noticed, and her face brightened as she went and sat down.

"What're you boys doing here?" Mai asked.

"Just sitting around." Otogi shrugged. "I didn't know you were still in town."

"I've been staying at Jounouchi's, he offered me his extra room. I was told to hit the town while he had dinner with his sister." Mai explained.

Honda was still sipping on his coffee, not saying anything. Otogi continued playing with his earring as Mai struck up some idle conversation. It was your basic stuff, but the main thing was that Mai had complained about not being able to duel Jounouchi. She still hadn't gotten him back since Duelist Kingdom. Her coffee arrived, along with a refill for Honda, and she sipped it down slowly. Honda was a bit quicker with his than Mai, however, and quickly found out that coffee is hot. While Otogi and Mai watched as Honda made an ass out of himself, begging random people for water (A/N: Hot coffee, eh?), outside, they were being watched. Another triad of the Dark Jackals had found their next mark.

"Honda Hiroto, is it?" One asked.

"Yeah, not much of a Duelist, but he might put up a fight. We should be prepared." The leader of the three replied. "Master Laevenne recommends caution. When we targeted Jounouchi, we made the mistake of trying to both duel, and fight him. Honda isn't much different, he'd never duel though. Fighting him would be as big a mistake as fighting Jounouchi."

"What of the other two?" The third asked.

"Kujaku Mai and Otogi Ryuji will not be much of a problem when it comes to a physical struggle, but Kujaku will be a formidable duel. Either way, this situation could prove difficult." The leader replied. "Remember, caution."

The three readied themselves in a nearby alley, waiting for Honda, or all three to leave. Preparing for their attack, they sat and waited.

Malik looked out the window with a lazy expression on his face. The flight from Egypt had been long, and rather boring. Isis had fallen asleep, her head was resting on his left shoulder. In the aisle seat, sat Rishid. He was looking aggravated, the cart that the in-flight meals and random other things were on kept bumping his elbows. They'd been doing it since the moment they took off. Now, however, Malik was rather pleased. The plane would be landing soon, and he would finally be in Domino, like he told the Pharaoh he would be. He was also eager to tell the Pharaoh about his latest findings about the Dark Jackals. He knew where they came from. From there, it was merely a task of finding out who was funding their illegal activities. Someone who had a Millennium Item. That was the most he knew. As far as he knew, all seven items were accounted for. The only ones that might've been lost were Shadi's, and even then, the powers of those items were weak compared to the others. This entire business was leaving a sour taste in Malik's mouth, and he just hoped he could be helpful when it came down to it.

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End of Chapter 7

Fieren: Man, is it just me or has anyone else noticed a decline in my writing? I think I've gotten worse, though I'm my own worst critic. I encourage people, nay, I beg you to read and review. I'd like to know what people think so far. I plan on updating within the next week, to answer any reviews such as the above ones (don't get me wrong, I appreciate them, thanks to all who have reviewed.). Either way, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Please R&R!


	8. No More Games

Fieren: Can I get a w00t, w00t! More reviews! Kick-ass! I have a loyal fan base now! To all who have been reading and reviewing glares menacingly at those who do read, but -don't- review, you know who you are! it makes me so happy, and motivates me to write more. Thank you once again.

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Chapter 8: No More Games

The Triad crouched behind several garbage cans, methodically keeping their eyes on their prey: Honda Hiroto. He had still not left the Karaoke Café, and was still in the company of his two friends. Time had worn on slowly for the Triad, but, their patience was showing it's fruits. Rising from their seats in the café, were Honda and his friends. Leaving behind a few bills, and a tip for their server, they stepped out into the brisk night air. Each of the three hooded men slowly drew long, curved knives. Master Laevenne's new orders were to stop playing games, and use any force necessary to achieve their goal. Jounouchi, Bakura and the Pharaoh had taught the valuable lesson, that the duelling skills of the Pharaoh and his companions were not to be underestimated. As Honda started on his way down the street, followed now only by Kujaku Mai, the Triad set out to follow him.

Otogi rounded a corner that led in the opposite direction of Honda and Mai, he quickly glanced back, as he needed to remind Mai to tell Shizuka, as Mai was sure to see her, to give her his phone number. As he turned back to follow, Otogi soon noticed the three hooded people following behind his unwary friends. As they passed underneath a streetlight, Otogi's sharp, emerald-green eyes caught a brief glint of a knife, carefully concealed in their sleeves. Otogi didn't know what they planned to do, but he would warn his friends. He started off at a fast-paced walk, making sure not to move too quickly, but quick enough so he wouldn't arouse any suspicion. He made good time. Luckily for Otogi, and his two friends, he was tall and had long legs. It wasn't long before he was a few yards behind the hooded men, and that was when he kept his pace in check. The men were slowly catching up to Honda and Mai, and were most likely waiting for the proper time to strike, most likely when nobody was around. Otogi would see to it that the 'proper time' never happened.

Minutes passed, and the nerve-wracking chase was still in action, only now, random pedestrians were becoming less and less frequent. It wouldn't be long until the three decided to strike. Otogi steeled himself. To back out now would be cowardly, and although Honda was his rival in many senses of the word, he was still his good friend, and no knife-wielding freaks were going to take that away from him. Suddenly, Honda rounded a corner. Dead silence. No traffic, no footsteps save the tap of Mai and Honda's footwear. It would seem as though the three before Otogi were wearing shoes designed for some measure of stealth. They would strike as soon as they rounded the corner. It was almost a certainty. Otogi took a slow, quiet, but nonetheless deep breath. As the Triad rounded the corner, Otogi quickly followed after and soon found one reeling back and falling onto his rear on the sidewalk. Standing before the Triad, was Honda, rubbing the knuckles on his right hand.

"Geez, I thought they'd never make their move." Honda complained, continuing to rub his knuckles.

Otogi quickly ran forward and stood beside Honda. He glanced up at the slightly taller boy. "When did you find out they were following you?" Otogi questioned.

Honda grinned, never taking his eyes off the Triad. "I was checking my watch one time, and since it's dark, I needed a better look with more light, so one time, when Mai and I passed under s street lamp, I raised my watch and caught sight of 'em. You were right behind. Thanks for trying to cover me."

Otogi grinned. Not such a dimwit after all, Otogi thought to himself. However, how smart could Honda be? Willingly picking a fight with three people. Mai wouldn't likely be much help, unless she knew how to throw one hell of a punch, or could fight in her heeled boots. Otogi was currently assessing the situation. There were several options open to them:

1. Rush Head-On and fight.

2. Try to go for a more advantageous spot.

3. Run like hell.

4. Do something else.

Otogi carefully considered each and every one of these. With the three of them brandishing knives, option number one seemed out of the question. Otogi carefully glanced back and forth looking for a more suitable place to fight, but in the empty street, there was nothing. Option number two was out also. Option number three was definitely not Honda's style, but he might have to bite the bullet, swallow his pride and run. Option number three was wide-open. Option number four however, posed quite the dilemma. What could they do using the wild-card fourth option that was safer than number one, more possible than number two, and more un-cowardly than number three?

Otogi's thoughts were cut drastically short as the Triad advanced and begun swinging their knives with expert skill and grace. Each cut aimed to kill. These people weren't playing games. If it weren't for Otogi and Honda's speed, they'd be dead now. Otogi reached into the right pocked of his vest and grabbed some dice. Expertly, he flicked them at the hooded men, each die flying into the hood and hitting a pressure point on each. If there was one thing Otogi knew, it was dice.

"Mai, go find help!" Otogi ordered.

Mai simply nodded and ran off down the street, heading towards Jounouchi's apartment. That was where Honda and Mai had been headed, it would seem. Honda and Otogi held their ground rather well against the would-be murderers. Both were managing to repel them. Honda was using his strength to push them back, Otogi continued flicking dice at the pressure points on their necks and heads. Otogi was running low on dice though. He soon reached into the pocket on his left and drew out another handful of dice. Shifting the dice from his left hand to his right, he begun to masterfully send them to their assigned places on the various points of their opponents' bodies.

Mai glanced back as she ran towards Jounouchi's. Honda and Otogi were still holding their ground, but Mai didn't know how long they'd last. She quickly turned back to the task at hand. Pumping her legs faster, she tore down the sidewalks at speeds one would normally think impossible for a woman in heels, but Mai's friends needed her. These people were her first friends in a long time, and she wouldn't lose them, at least not when she could do something to prevent it. Frantically, she looked all about as she ran, but nobody was around, at least not in sight. Soon, she began desperately calling for help. Frustration took over when nobody had answered. She soon collapsed. There was nobody in sight or earshot. Nobody would answer, and nobody would save her friends. Slight tears soon built on Mai's eyelids. Her violet eyes were downcast as the tears began to fall down her cheeks. She lost herself in her sobs. It wasn't like Mai to cry, but she had never been planted in this sort of situation before. Mai looked up when she heard a car slowly pull to a stop. The familiar clicking sound of an opening door made her gaze up at the person stepping from the car.

"Keep going, I'll find my way there alone." Said a very familiar voice. One she remembered very well.

He would have to do.

Otogi had run out of dice and Honda was running low on stamina. The attackers were very energetic, and seemed to get more so when Otogi and Honda had begun to run low on steam. It wouldn't be too much longer before they would give out. Otogi soon was knocked onto his rear, and Honda soon followed.

"Mission accomplished." One sneered as he raised his knife, and was preparing to bring it down before a flash of black and tan knocked him aside, and his comrades.

Honda and Otogi looked up, elated beyond belief that they had been spared by someone they had least suspected. Standing before them, stood Malik Ishtar. They looked back and found Mai running up, she stopped behind them and grinned. Giving her two weary friends a hearty 'thumbs-up', she helped them to their feet.

"You two okay?" Malik asked, not looking back.

"Yeah." Honda said breathlessly. "We're lucky Mai found you. We'd be goners if you hadn't shown up when you did."

"You gonna be okay?" Otogi asked, his chest heaving.

"I know a few styles of martial arts." Malik shrugged. "I should be fine."

Honda and Otogi shrugged. Their savoir had taken an odd form, but they didn't care one bit. It's not like Malik was the same creepy jerk he was one year ago. Malik lowered himself into a fighting stance as soon as the Triad stood. All held their knives out to Malik. Malik smirked as he struck, lightning quick, the tallest member of the trio directly in the throat. He clutched desperately at it, struggling to breath. He fell to his knees, only to be dealt a devastating kick to the head by the merciless Egyptian. Malik gave the remaining two a stare that could tear the resistance from the strongest, and they quickly gathered their fallen comrade and ran.

Malik breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Ra." He breathed thankfully. "I was not looking forward to dealing with the other two. I put everything I had into those few hits I dealt."

Honda and Otogi grinned. "Thanks, Malik." Honda said.

Malik only smiled. "Do you know where the Domino Hotel is?"

"Yeah, it's ten blocks that way." Otogi pointed East. "I could take you there."

"I could use a guide. I'm not used to Domino City." Malik smiled again.

"I'm going to be taking Mai to Jounouchi's then. My bike is there, so I'll head home as soon as I drop off Mai." Honda said.

"Liar. You just want to see Shizuka." Mai said as she and Honda started off down the street, arguing the whole way.

Honda Hiroto syndrome, Otogi thought. He turned and started off in the direction of the Hotel, Malik trailing behind only a slight distance.

"Who were they?" Otogi asked after a minute of silence.

"They were a Triad. A group of semi-skilful assassins and thieves for the Dark Jackal sect." Malik answered.

"Anything like your old group?" Otogi asked. "What were their names? Ghouls?"

"They're mostly the same." Malik shrugged. "Because of that the Dark Jackals and my Ghouls are rivals of sorts." Malik explained.

"Next question: why've you come here?" Otogi asked.

"My group obtained some information that stated the Dark Jackals would be coming to Domino City to gather up the Pharaoh's puzzle. The Triad is probably targeting Yuugi's friends to weaken his resolve. Clearly they have proved more resilient than their Leader had thought." Malik smiled.

Otogi mulled this over in his mind as he continued walking Malik to the Hotel were Isis and Rishid were waiting.

----

Laevenne paced back and forth in his chambers, his raven-colored hair flowing behind him. He was growing impatient as he waited for the report on the Honda Hiroto target. Nervously, he placed his index and middle fingers on the jackal tattoo on his cheek, a habit he had had since it had been applied. The Master had recently contacted him and warned against more failure, or he himself would come to Domino, and show him how his job was to be done. The only person in the entirety of the world that Laevenne had any fear of was the Master. Jackal himself.

Ryoko sat in a chair on the far side of the room, watching Laevenne pace, and habitually stroke the jackal tattoo. Just once, she would like to be the one to stroke his tattoo for him, and have him acknowledge her feelings. Ryoko was not one to give in easily to emotion, but her superior, Laevenne had captivated her thoughts, and dreams. Each and every night came another dream to the wistful subordinate.

"Ryoko." Laevenne called to her in his soft, yet powerful voice. "Would you say I have been doing a bad job, with my every decision ending in failure?" He turned to her, his eyes filled with sorrow and chagrin.

"Master Laevenne, your decisions have been made well. You've never been the one to overlook simple facts, your underlings have underestimated their opponents." Ryoko answered meaningfully. No decision made by her raven could possibly be wrong.

He smiled slightly, his eyes softened, he strode over and placed a gentle hand on her left cheek. "Thank you. I can only hope that Master Jackal thinks the same way."

Ryoko's cheeks took on a pinkish tint as she quickly averted her gaze. Glancing down at her laptop, she noticed she had received an instant message from the twelfth Triad Squad. To sum it up in a word: failure. Ryoko cleared her throat and forced all thoughts of Laevenne's touch from her mind as she looked up to face her superior.

"Honda Hiroto has not been dealt with." She murmured.

Laevenne mentally cursed himself. Master Jackal would already be aware of this turn of events, and he would not be pleased. As if on cue, the view screen on the far wall of the room sprung into life, and a face shrouded in darkness (A/N: Convenient, eh?) appeared.

"Laevenne." The figure spoke in a distorted voice. "Care to explain to me why you are my second in command?"

"I do not fail." Laevenne mouthed. Oddly enough, the figure in the screen considered it, and responded.

"If you do not fail, what is it you have been doing in Domino? It wasn't working, whatever it was." The whole time, Jackal's voice never rose, and he kept his composure.

"Miscalculations. I have corrected them, and will be taking appropriate actions." Laevenne replied.

"I don't want to have to come to Domino myself Laevenne. Not yet. Your remaining chances are few in number, and by few, I mean singular. Do not fail again."

The view screen distorted, and shut down. Laevenne slowly seated himself and Ryoko came over to talk to him.

"Ryoko? Could you fetch me the briefcase Master Jackal said never to open unless we absolutely had to?"

"Of course, Master Laevenne. May I ask why?" Ryoko replied.

"No. I will tell you as the situation warrants." He replied in his usual, quiet and calm voice.

Ryoko stepped out of the room, and returned quickly, she handed him the metal case. He waved her from the room and as he heard the door close, unlocked the clasps on the case. As he lifted the metal lid, Laevenne gazed upon two of the most powerful Magic and Wizards cards in existence. The Sky Dragon of Osiris, and the Colossus of Obelisk. Laevenne's normally stoic smile cracked into a grin. Armed with these, there wouldn't be a Duellist who could stop him. Laevenne was more of a strategist, an observer. A man of action, he was not. Osiris and Obelisk would have to be entrusted to two of his most trusted subordinates.

----

Seto sat in his office going over some papers, and designs for the new model Duel Disk that Mutou Yuuhi now carried. So far, Doppler and his technicians had not been able to recreate the technology, and Seto himself was too busy with other matters to worry about the state of his engineers. A software company called Kaljac Industries had approached him about combining forces and creating more realistic virtual reality. Seto had not yet considered the offer. He didn't plan to. He took a single glance at the proposition and had promptly tossed it into the garbage, Mokuba had wondered why his brother had not taken the offer. Kaljac Industries may be new, but they were reputed to have technological geniuses working at their helm. Most prominent of them, was the founder, Malcolm Kaljac. Mokuba had researched him out of sheer interest, and had found quite a bit. He was a certifiable technological genius. Mokuba may have been young, but even he knew that Kaljac Industries had a lot to offer Kaiba Corp. Why couldn't Seto see it too? Mokuba and Seto's thoughts were interrupted by the secretary speaking in through the intercom.

"Call on hold Mr. Kaiba." she spoke in her cheery voice.

"Thanks Yukari." Seto spoke and pressed the button labelled 'Talk' on his video phone.

On the mini-Television screen, appeared the smiling face of Malcolm Kaljac. He was a pale man with pale hair. He had piercing grey eyes. A very bland appearing person.

"Good afternoon, Kaiba." He greeted.

"In case you're wondering about the offer, you're wasting your time Kaljac. My answer is no."

"While that is a shame, Kaiba, that is not why I'm calling. How would you like to throw another Magic and Wizards tournament?"

"Kaiba Corp can't afford that now."

"I'll fund it." Malcolm smiled. "Let's make it interesting though."

"Interesting how?" Seto asked, Magic and Wizards had come up, and now he was intrigued.

"We'll each assemble a team of Duellists, the best you can find from Asia, and the best I can find from North America. If my team wins, we become partners in business."

"If I win?" Seto raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Use your imagination, Kaiba. Get back to me ASAP on it. Don't keep me waiting." Kaljac cut out, and left Seto with thoughts about the tournament. Should he accept the offer? The challenge? It would be foolish of him not to take an opportunity such as this. He had himself, Yuugi and Yuugi's brother. In Seto's opinion. Three of the best in the whole world. What did he have to lose?

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End of Chapter 8

Please R&R.


	9. Team Selection and an Offer You Can't Re...

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My apologies for being so late with this one!!!! Forgive me!!!!

Fieren: Gawd, I am tired of writing duels! That would explain the lack of them last chapter. I think for the next while I will stay away from duels, and maybe try to focus more or less on the plot, or story development, or character development, etc. Thanks again for the reviews. Recommend me to your friends! Also, sorry for taking so long to get this chapter up.

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Chapter 9: Team Selection and an Offer You Can't Refuse

Sunday was the most marvellous day of the week for the lazy, Japanese school student. Yuuhi sat up with a yawn as he looked at his alarm clock. With a contented smile, he slipped out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, to catch a shower. As he stepped into the bathroom, he glanced down the hall and into the living room. Yuugi was sitting on the couch, lazily staring at the television. Yuuhi laughed as he entered the bathroom, and closed the door.

Yuugi was sitting lazily on the couch, staring blankly at an anime program on television. He snorted as he saw something particularly odd. These characters were constantly settling their disputes on a board game, instead of using their fists and feet. Some of these people knew karate, yet instead of going Black Belt on their enemies, they fought using a board game.

"This is lame." Yuugi laughed. He picked up the remote and changed the channel.

Yuugi, I can't help but think that television show is way too similar to what we do.Yami said.

Don't be ridiculous, we don't play board games.Yuugi laughed at Yami's well-positioned thought. The similarities were striking (A/N: Even -you- have to admit it.).

Yuugi continued to flip channels until the phone rang. He tossed the remote onto another cushion as he stood and answered the phone.

"Mutou residence." Yuugi answered.

-Yuugi, what are you and Yuuhi up to today?- It was Anzu.

"I'm not sure about Yuuhi, but I know I'm not doing anything, Anzu." Yuugi replied. "I'm pretty sure he said he was busy." Yuugi was lying. He had had a big crush on Anzu for a long time, he would do almost anything to be alone with her.

-Oh, that's too bad, the gang and I wanted to hang out today.- she replied, a little saddened. Anzu had seemed odd ever since Yuuhi had come back. It was only mildly aggravating Yuugi.

Suddenly, a slight tone went off on the phone. "Call-waiting, Anzu. Could you hold?" Yuugi asked.

-Sure.- she said.

Yuugi clicked the Flash button on the phone and waited until he heard the line change.

"Mutou residence." Yuugi answered.

-Pharaoh.- Came the voice of Malik. -Can you meet today?-

"You're in town already? I got your last e-mail, I didn't think you'd be here this early." Yuugi said in a shocked tone.

-I did say it was urgent. The Dark Jackals are moving against you. You should be prepared.- Malik said. -I can meet you at the harbor, since I don't know the city, the harbor is easiest for me.-

"The harbor is fine. I have someone on the other line, I'll see you at the harbor." Yuugi said as he clicked the Flash button again and returned to Anzu's line. "Sorry, I can't make it. I have to make it to the harbor. Malik is going to meet me there."

-Malik? Oh, that's right, you've been keeping in contact with him haven't you? I suppose I understand, maybe we could meet up later?- Anzu asked.

"Maybe." Yuugi replied. "I have no idea how long I'll be though."

-That's all right, I'll talk to you later.- Anzu hung up the phone and Yuugi responded in kind.

Yuugi's shoulders sagged. Bad memories revolved around Malik, although after his defeat at Battle City he had once again sworn his servitude back to Yami, that was a plus. Just in case, Yuugi returned to his room and turned to his dresser. He reached under it and pulled forth a box. It was simple, and brown, nothing outstanding stood out on the box, with the exception of a lock. Yuugi pulled the key from his bottom drawer of the dresser, and as he inserted the key into the old metal lock, he turned it and heard it click. Returning the key to it's proper place, Yuugi pulled the lock off and opened the box, inside sat the two Millennium Items he has obtained during Battle City: the Millennium Rod, and Millennium Necklace. Yami would know how to use the Millennium Rod, so if anything happened…. Yuugi didn't want to think that anything would happen, but he couldn't be too sure. He reached into the box and pulled out the Millennium Rod. Mind control powers and a dagger to top it off. Placing the Rod in his pocket, Yuugi stood and made his way to the door. He slipped his sneakers on and made his way out the door.

-----

As he heard the door close, Yuuhi stepped out of the bathroom and ran his hands through his hair. The television was off and Yuugi was gone. Yuuhi turned and as he tightened the towel around his waist, he headed off into his room to get dressed. Before Yuuhi could enter his room, he heard his Mom call from the hall.

"Yuuhi! When you get dressed, dry the floor! You tracked water all over!"

"Sorry, force of habit!" Yuuhi called back.

Yuuhi never had to worry about cleanliness while he lived with his father. Addicts like him were never worried. Yuuhi's father was addicted to a great deal of things, and few of them were good. Gambling, alcohol, drugs, none of them were good, and they were the tip of the iceberg. But now, Yuuhi was actually capable of having a life now, he no longer had to worry about debt-collectors, drug dealers, disgruntled bartenders or mad pimps anymore. Yuuhi was actually happy now. For the first time in a long time, he was happy. He had friends now, and they cared for him, at least to a moderate extent for a few of them.

Yuuhi finished dressing and using his half-wet towel as a makeshift mop, he cleaned the water from the floor. He could see his reflection in one of the puddles. He moved along the floor to more puddles and he continued drying them, and when he was finished, he stood and leaned back. His back hurt slightly from kneeling on the floor. He turned back to his room and tossed the wetter towel onto the floor.

"Yuuhi," It was his Mom again, "while you were in your room changing, there was a phone call for you. Ryou wanted to know if you were busy. He left his number so you could call him back."

Yuuhi nodded his thanks and turned to the phone, that sat on a little side table. There was a pad of paper next to the receiver, and written on it was Ryou's house number. Yuuhi picked up the phone and punched in the number, and waited as the phone rang.

-----

Dr. Doppler heaved a pained sigh as he leaned back in his high-backed chair in his cramped office. Research papers on the new Duel Disk systems were scattered about messily. On the monitor schematics for the construction of the software that the Duel Disk used were displayed. They were highly-detailed, and most of the necessary components were difficult to come by, and use. Doppler had managed to get his hands on the most difficult microchips. They were necessary for the hologram solidification process. Doppler reached down and picked up his mug of coffee. As he took a sip from his mug, he turned his attention back to his computer, and the schematics. There had to be a way to recreate the software without the use of the chips. His attentions were jarred back to his office when he heard his phone rang. Looking at call display, and not recognizing the number, he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Doppler asked, his curiosity betraying his distaste for being bothered.

"Good afternoon, Doctor." It was a voice that was clearly being altered by a device. He would know, he studied them in college. "Are you busy?"

He was. "Who is this? I have some important business that requires my attention."

"I see," the voice paused, "then I will be brief. I am calling to extend an offer: Work for me. Your talents are going to waste as a reverse engineer for Kaiba Corp."

"What do you know of my work?" Doppler questioned.

"They devoted entire semesters for the study of your work at some of the most prestigious schools in America. I studied you extensively."

Doppler was unaccustomed to such praise, considering his current employment. "What would you have me do?"

"What you're best at. Being a reverse engineer. I'd like you to keep working for Kaiba Corp, as a front."

"Go on." Doppler was curious.

"You are privy to most, if not all of Kaiba Corp's newest software projects, are you not?"

"I am." Doppler was starting to sweat, and beginning to feel nervous.

"I would like you to sell the designs to me and my company." The voice said. "I would pay you handsomely."

Doppler was silent for a moment as he considered the offer. It was true that he disliked Kaiba Seto, but, what he was being asked was immoral. "How much?" Doppler asked.

"I can see you are interested. I shall have one of my associates meet with you. They will discuss it with you then. I look forward to doing business with you, Doppler." The phone suddenly went quiet, and Doppler slowly hung up the phone. He leaned back in his chair, sweat glistening on his brow. The entire ordeal of what had just happened had unnerved him. He looked down to the phone, and he re-looked up the number. The number had disappeared. Unnerving was an understatement.

"I think I'll go home early today." Doppler rose from his chair and started towards his office door. He was reaching for the knob when Kaiba's voice came on to the intercom.

"Doppler, come to my office." Quick, and to the point. Doppler felt like his legs were jelly. Did Kaiba know? Doppler sighed and opened the door. Kaiba would want to see him as soon as possible.

-----

Yuugi had just left the main road and had begun down the road that would eventually get him to the harbor, where Malik would be waiting. Everything had turned weird as of late. The Dark Jackals, Malik returning, and his brother. What was worse, it seemed like Anzu liked him, and to Yuugi, that was more dominant in his mind than anything. When his thoughts turned to Anzu, Yuugi felt a pang of regret. What had she wanted to do today? What was he missing out on now? All the possibilities, few as they may be, were making Yuugi feel outcast. He was alone, save for Yami, who existed inside the golden pyramid hanging from his neck. All of Yami's problem were on Yuugi's mind also. His power, his past, even his real name. Yami had so many mysteries surrounding him. The Pharaoh of Egypt from 5000 years ago. What was his story? What had brought him to the point that he was at now? The God cards were supposed to be the keys that were able to unlock the box that was encasing Yami's memories. They were stolen the night Yuugi obtained them. Yuugi had tried so hard to obtain them, and as he was revelling in his accomplishment, they were snatched from him. Malik's mind servant, the mime, Kaiba, and Malik himself. None of the matches were easy. Yuugi remembered each detail as clearly as it had happened a day ago.

"Buster Blader! Attack the Revival Slime!" Yami roared at his armoured monster, weakened by Osiris' second mouth ability. The Buster Blader leapt into the air and swung his sword and cleaved the blue plasma monster in half. As it was pulling together, Yami clicked a button on his Duel Disk. "Activate Brain Control on Revival Slime!"

A giant brain with arms appeared on the field and suddenly, the Revival Slime appeared on Yami's side of the field. The giant red dragon that was the Sky Dragon of Osiris opened the mouth on the top of it's head as it closed it's bottom mouth, and a giant ball of golden energy erupted from it's gaping maw and collided head-on with the blue slime. It splattered in all directions and then reformed, and another ball of energy collided with the slime. All the while, Malik's mind slave was drawing from his deck. Fully aware that this was an endless loop. Yami had won. Thanks to a combo that his opponent had set up to strengthen Osiris, it was no becoming his defeat. Suddenly, the field cleared, and the display read that Yami had won. Malik's slave had lost, and Yuugi had successfully won the Sky Dragon of Osiris.

-----

"Dark Paladin! Use the Diffusion Wave-Motion and strike down Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragons!" Yami called to his only monster on the field. It raised its staff-like sword into the air and a giant wave of energy burst from it, rending all the Dragon's asunder.

"No!" Kaiba fell to his knees. He began mumbling something as the field cleared.

Yuugi had won the Colossus of Obelisk.

-----

Yami had just sacrificed all of his monsters with the exception of Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl. Malik still had a single Life Point left. But, Yami's goal had been accomplished, the dark Malik had been replaced by the original. Malik looked up, and with a smile, placed his hand over his deck, forfeiting the Duel, the Battle City crown, and the Winged Dragon of Ra, to Yuugi. Yuugi had at that point, in his possession, all three of the Egyptian God Cards, and the key to Yami's memories.

That night, Yuugi had lost his chance when he was attacked by three men in dark robes. One held him down, and the other two searched through his deck for the God monsters. When they had found what they were looking for, they replaced his deck where they had taken it from, and let him stand as they stole into the night. Yuugi had stood and watched, and in despair, fell to his knees. All of his hard work had been flushed down the toilet.

Yuugi had stopped walking, as his memories flooded back to him. He looked back down the street, and was about to continue on when his cell phone rang. He had bought one a few months back with his money he made working at the Game Store. Yuugi pulled his phone from his pocket and turned it on.

"Hello?" Yuugi asked.

-Mutou.- It was Kaiba. -I have selected you to compete in a new team-style tournament.-

Teams? This was new. This was also very sudden. -I guess so.- Yuugi enjoyed playing Magic and Wizards. He hadn't had a good chance to play since Battle City.

-Good, rally your brother and three others, so we'll all be playing on a team.-

-Four others of my choice?-

-Any three, even Jounouchi, but bear in mind, we have to be able to compete together. Could Jounouchi or I compete well together?- Kaiba asked.

-I suppose not.- Yuugi replied. -I'll do it, I've been wanting to play some real challengers for quite some time.-

-Good.- Kaiba hung up.

Yuugi turned his phone off and placed it back in his pocket. A new tournament. Yuugi smiled at that thought. He started off down the road again, on his way to the harbor.

-----

"Doppler is here, Mr. Kaiba." Yukari spoke over the intercom.

Seto had just hung up the phone as Yukari's cheerful voice came through.

"Thank you, Yukari. Send him in." Seto said after releasing the intercom button.

Doppler walked in slowly, and as he came in, he closed the door. He looked worse for wear. He walked over and slumped down into the chair.

"You wanted to see me?" Doppler asked, sweat glistening on his brow.

"How is the work on the Duel Disk going?" Seto asked, compassion for his ill-appearing employee flooding through his normally cold exterior.

"I have recently been able to acquire some of the chips necessary." Doppler answered. "The schematics for them have been taken apart and numbered step-by-step."

"Smooth then?" Doppler nodded. "Excellent, now take the rest of the day off. Get some rest, you look like hell." Kaiba said.

Doppler nodded his thanks and stood and left the office.

****

End of Chapter 9

Fieren: Sorry it took so long to write people. I've had a lot on my plate, most of my time has been consumed by a great game called Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. It owns my soul . Anywho, same thing as always, R&R, and please refer me to your friends, more writing comes faster from more reviews. Thanks!


	10. A Deal Forged on the Water

Fieren: Well, I don't really have anything to say regarding anything this time around. I suppose I'll spare you my mindless blabbering and just give you the chapter,

****

Chapter 10: A Deal Forged on the Water

Doppler was walking the streets, a dirty brown briefcase in his left hand and his right hand jammed into his pocket. Sweat poured down his brow and made his face appear to glisten in the afternoon light. As he stopped at a red light, his cell phone suddenly rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at it. On the display was a text message: **Meet at the sushi place across the street, my associate is there.** Doppler looked up from his phone and at the Sushi Place. Sitting in the front window was a beautiful woman with long red hair, pulled into a tight ponytail in the back. She wore a set of stylish sunglasses and a smart business suit. She gave a tight smile and a slight wave at Doppler from the Sushi Place. That was who he was meeting, unless this woman was coming on to him, but that never happened. Doppler had always come off as sort of a geek, and he wasn't very appealing. Doppler sighed and made his way across the street and entered the sushi place. Behind the countertop, several men were cutting up fish and wrapping them, while people who had ordered were waiting. Four tables were full, men and women talking, laughing, and eating. Doppler's attention however was riveted on the red-haired woman. From the outside, he'd never been able to get a good look at her, but now he could see that she was very beautiful. He slowly walked over and sat next to her.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Benjamin Doppler." She extended her right hand to him, he took it and gave it a weak shake.

"Pardon me if I seem a little odd today, I'm feeling a little ill." Doppler said.

"I understand." She nodded.

"Let's hear this deal."

"Right down to business I see. I like that." She smiled. "You received a call earlier today from someone you couldn't identify, correct?" Doppler nodded. "That was a taste of how we do things. Other than little meetings like these, you never met us. Am I clear?" Doppler nodded again. "Good. We have propositioned you because of your technological expertise, and because of your connections in Kaiba Corp. We want you to spy for us."

Doppler considered this for a moment. "Corporate Espionage then is it?"

"Exactly."

"In what intervals will these meetings be?"

"There won't be a set time, we will get a hold of you and let you know."

"That seems unprofessional."

"Maybe, but we don't want your activities to look like clockwork. Just like any other day, Benjamin."

"I understand. What should I look into first?"

"The new solidification program Kaiba Corp is working on."

"VR Solidification?" The woman nodded. "You're in luck, I am heading that particular project. I already know everything about it, for the most part."

"Not now, we need to talk payment. For every piece of information you bring us, my superiors will pay you one million dollars, U.S." She said.

Doppler was native to Canada, not the U.S. But even still, that was a lot of money. "I'll do it."

The woman smiled. "Excellent, in roughly a week or so, we will meet again, next time in a more quiet atmosphere. I look forward to the information you'll bring." She stood, and gracefully walked away, leaving Doppler staring after her.

-----

Yuugi made his way down the street considering what Kaiba told him. A team tournament. He would be there, along with Yuuhi, once Yuugi told him, three others, and Yuugi himself. Who would Yuugi ask? Kaiba had already made his point when he recommended Jounouchi not be there. Perhaps Mai? She enjoyed duelling, so this would be a good idea for her. Perhaps Ryou and Malik also? They were both good. Yuugi would talk to Malik when the met at the harbor, which wouldn't be very long, since Yuugi was close to the harbor.

-Yuugi?- Yami asked.

-Hmmm?- Yuugi replied.

-Is Malik really trustworthy now?- Yami didn't trust him.

-You should have faith in those in your service, Yami. Look at me, for once the advice is coming from me to you.- Yuugi laughed.

Yami chuckled himself, and then became silent when they saw Malik walking towards them. He was wearing his usual jewellery, khaki pants and a black t-shirt. He sun-bleached hair was playing in the wind. He gave a slight wave as he jogged the rest of the way to them.

"Hello, Yuugi. I'd like to talk to the Pharaoh." Malik got to the point.

"Okay, but first, how would you like to compete in a team tournament?" Yuugi asked.

"For Magic and Wizards?" Malik asked, and Yuugi nodded. "Sounds like fun."

Yuuhi smiled and then Yami came out. "Hello, Malik." Yami said.

"Pharaoh." Malik nodded. "The Dark Jackals are here in town."

"I know. I have encountered some of them." Yami replied, his mind falling back to the green-haired man who was killed by his cohorts.

"They are also closer than you think now. They have a ship in this harbor. I saw it as I was walking here. It's the one down there with all the Jackal emblems plastered all over it. Discretion is a foreign concept to them it would seem." Malik pointed.

"Indeed. They're after my Puzzle."

"I know. I don't know why they'd want it, unless they were going for what I wanted. Your power. They do possess all three of the God monsters right now. If they get the Puzzle, it's over, but only if they know your secret, and they might need one of us for that." Malik replied.

Their conversation was cut short when they saw a Triad walking towards them.

"Crap." Malik said through gritted teeth. "Pharaoh, go that way, I'll go this way." Malik made gestures with his head to tell the directions.

Yami turned and took off in the direction Malik gestured. "We'll meet somewhere more friendly next time." Yami called back.

Malik nodded and took off as well.

-----

While they had been out, Ryou and Yuuhi ran into Anzu, Honda and Otogi. Now, the five of them were seated in a booth at the back of a Karaoke Bar. There was a middle-aged looking man up on stage, singing very horribly as the words appeared on a projector. Yuuhi was laughing hysterically along with Honda at the man. When he had been booed off stage, Yuuhi and Honda turned back to their three friends.

"You know, they don't really have Karaoke Bars in North America or Europe." Yuuhi said.

"They don't? You been around, man." Honda said, giving Yuuhi a slap on the back.

"Maybe, but it wasn't exactly a picnic. After my parents divorced eight years ago, my Dad hauled me around the world escaping debt collectors and the like. Wasn't fun. He got beat up a lot, and then when he got tired of caring for me, he gave custody of me over to Mom." Yuuhi explained.

"Why did they divorce anyway?" Anzu asked.

"Dad thought that Mom cheated on him." Yuuhi said simply.

"Why would he think that?" Otogi asked, while he handled one of his trademark dice.

"I guess it was because I don't look much like him, or Mom for that matter. We got one of those blood tests done, and it proved that I was actually his but I don't think he ever quite believed it." Yuuhi finished.

"Are we gonna order anything?" Honda asked.

Anzu glared at Honda. "Way to ruin the mood you oaf!" She kicked him underneath the table. Honda let out a high-pitched yelp and began hugging his shin to his torso/

"That's not everything though. Something else happened, that neither of my parents would tell me about, but from the strange looks they got in their eyes, I could tell it was about me. Yuugi might be able to tell you." Yuuhi leaned his chin against him palm and rested his elbow on the table. He had a distant, sad look in his eyes.

"I think I'll have a medium pizza…" Honda said as he scratched his chin. Anzu delivered another swift and furious kick to his bruised shin. Honda yelped again.

Yuuhi stood and gave a half-hearted farewell as he trotted out the door, hands in his pockets. The sidewalks were teeming with life, much like an ant colony and Yuuhi hardly noticed as he weaved in and out of the crowd. He turned with a start when he felt a hand on his arm. Yuuhi turned and found himself looking into the troubled eyes of Anzu.

"You don't think much of us as friends do you?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Yuuhi asked, taking back his arm.

"You lied to us in there, about that other reason, the one your parents never told you about."

"What of it? It's a bad memory I didn't want to dig up, you're not thinking much of me by asking me to talk about it." Yuuhi said, a touch of anger hitting his voice.

"You didn't have to lie though." Anzu said, turning her head down a little. She had realized what Yuuhi said was true.

"Maybe I didn't." Yuuhi said, turning away.

"Wanna go back in?" Anzu asked.

"Not really." Yuuhi looked down at his brunette friend. "How about we go do something? Just the two of us?"

"You mean like, a date?" Anzu asked.

"No, not a date, just two friends doing something." Yuuhi smiled. "No karaoke though, just about every person is horrible at it."

"How about DDR?" Anzu asked.

"They have that in America you know. I met this guy once in Canada, name was Ian… something or other, man he was good at it."

Together, the two sauntered off down the street, weaving together through traffic.

-----

Yami looked back and cursed in Egyptian when he saw the Triad hot on his heels. He rounded a corner and dug into his pocket and pulled the Millennium Rod. Yami skidded to a stop and turned to face his followers. They rounded the corner and slowed down when they saw the spiky-haired Pharaoh had stopped. They grimly advanced as they drew their knives from their sleeves. The Pharaoh pointed the rod at the first and using it, entered his mind, and turned him on his followers. Through his captors body, Yami wrestled with the two others, making them drop their knives, which he quickly collected using his new body. With one, he stabbed through a hood, pinning a man to the ground, the other one was given a hit to the stomach. Yami then made the man club himself and then released him and continued running. As Yami rounded a corner, he smacked into Malik.

"It appears that our two paths crossed." Yami smirked.

"So it would seem." The tanned young man smirked. Together the two rose from the ground and continued running.

After what seemed like forever, the two stopped and sat on a bench, catching their breath. Malik looked down and saw his former Millennium Item clutched in Yami's hand.

"It's good to know my Rod helped you." Malik heaved hoarsely.

"It was a great help." Yami heaved back. "They wanted to duel before."

"Perhaps they realized it was time to stop fooling around and start coming out you with lethal force." Malik said as he pulled out a cell phone. "I'm going to call Rishid and have him pick us up, we can talk about this with Isis at the hotel." As Malik began punching in the numbers, Mai's car skidded to a stop. In the passenger seat, sat Jounouchi.

"Hey, Yuugi, what's up?" Jounouchi and Mai asked in unison.

"They're even better." Malik said.

"Definitely." Yami said. "Could you give us a ride, Mai?"

"Where to?" She asked.

"Anywhere but here." Malik said.

"Yuugi, have you seen my new place yet?" Yami nodded. "Mai and me were headin' there anyway, why doncha guys come with us?" Jounouchi asked, leaning across Mai's lap to talk.

"I'd love to see your new home, Jou." Yami said as he and Malik climbed into the back seat.

Mai revved the engine and took off down the street.

-----

Bakura was walking down the street, heading towards the harbor, where his Millennium Ring pointed to two of the Millennium Items, he held it up and looked down again, the spikes on the Ring pointed off in another direction. Bakura gritted his teeth and let the Ring go, as he was turning, his eyes landed on a Triad, battered and bruised. Now would be a good time to find out who had attacked him before. He strode over to the Triad and grabbed one by the neck.

"Where is your leader?" Bakura demanded icily.

The Triad was clearly too tired out to fight the Egyptian thief and quietly asked him to follow. They didn't walk very far. Just down the walkway, about thirty yards, was a ship with jackals emblazoned on the hull. They led Bakura up the gangplank, and he then stood face-to-tattooed-face with a man with a Jackal tattooed on his cheek.

"Who are you?" Bakura demanded.

"Who are you?" The tattooed man countered.

"I can see this is going somewhere, so I'll be brief, what are you doing in this city?"

"We are here to take an item much like the one you wear around your neck."

"The Millennium Puzzle? Get in line, fool." Bakura spat.

"You have but one item, our leader has two." The raven-haired man said smugly.

"You're mistaken, I also have two." Two Millennium Items, in the possession of their leader. That got gears grinding in Bakura's head. "However, if your leader will give me his Millennium Items, I will get him the Puzzle. Yuugi knows of you, he won't suspect me." A lie of course. Yuugi and the Pharaoh were constantly on guard for him.

"How do I know you'll deliver?"

"I'm a collector, I'll gladly hand over one Millennium Item if I know it'll get me two more." Bakura grinned.

"I shall ask my Master, my name is Laevenne, and yours?"

"Bakura Ryou." Bakura chuckled and leaned against the railing on the side of the ship as Laevenne went inside. Four Millennium Items, and then stealing the Puzzle from these fools would be simple.

****

End of Chapter 10

Next Chapter: Things you can expect to see next chapter!!!! Bakura does stuff, EVIL! Yuuhi and Anzu play DDR, exciting! Honda realizes girls don't like him and kills himself, extreme! Yuugi asks Mai to compete and tells Jou he can't, righteous! Seto does stuff, huzzah! Will any of this actually happen? Read the next chapter and find out!

Fieren: R&R!!!


	11. Twilight Kiss

****

Chapter 11: Twilight Kiss

Bakura lounged lazily on the railing of the Jackals ostentatious ship. All about the white-haired tomb robber, black-robed men and women were cleaning and chatting amongst each other. Bakura sneered, while they functioned well, they were too open. It was a wonder nobody noticed the oddity this ship held. Cultists. That's what people would think. Perhaps that was what they were. Bakura gritted his teeth and clenched his fists until blood dripped from his hand, cut by his nails. To think, the nerve of people that might use the Millennium Puzzle,_ his_ puzzle, for some obscure ritual crap. Bakura gave thought to leaving, or killing all of these men and women when Laevenne returned from below decks, a smile touching his face.

"Well?" Bakura asked.

"The Master is interested in you, he wishes to see what you would do, Bakura Ryou. He will come to Domino City and deliver his Millennium Items to you personally if you can deliver him the Puzzle." Laevenne said.

"It appears we have an accord. I don't take kindly to being double-crossed, I'll keep my part of the bargain, see to it that this _Master_ of yours keeps his." Bakura slipped his left hand into his pocket, as he gingerly lapped up the collection of blood on his right. Not so much that he liked the taste of blood, though he did, it was more or less to close the wound, saliva could do some amazing things.

As Bakura descended the gangplank, he gave thought as to how we would go about seeing through his part of their bargain. The Pharaoh and Yuugi were on guard for theft of that precious item all the time. Bakura would need to steal it from someone Yuugi trusted, from someone who didn't know of Bakura's malevolent intent. His mind settled on one perfect candidate: Mutou Yuuhi. Bakura laughed inwardly at the thought of using Yuugi's own flesh and blood to steal that which should have belonged to him some time ago. Ryou sighed at Bakura.

Shut up, Bakura thought to Ryou.

Why must you use everyone that I care about for your own selfishness, Ryou asked of his darker side, the spirit of the Ring.

All this time and you suddenly evolve a backbone, Bakura asked, like it or not, Ryou, I am constantly using people, primarily you, and if you don't want your body injured further, I suggest you stay as far from my personal business as possible.

Ryou was used to being threatened by Bakura, but nevertheless, it never ceased to frighten the young man. Deep down, Bakura probably wouldn't do so much as slash his wrists, since he needed him more than anything at the moment. Ryou had a collection of scars on his wrists from times when Bakura needed to lash out, and suitable people weren't present, so he cut his hosts body. Ryou never lost much blood though, Bakura always thirstily licked it up after he had cut Ryou (A/N: This is for you, Bakura/Ryou fan girls, picture that in your head, you know you wanna.). Bakura casually walked up the street, now in search of the auburn-haired Yuuhi, since the woman, Anzu, left after him, they would surely be together.

Ryou, do you have any money, Bakura asked, I need you to buy some pudding pops, we're out.

-----

Yuuhi and Anzu walked through the door of the arcade, Yuuhi held the door open for his beautiful, younger friend. Anzu made a beeline for the DDR machine. Yuuhi laughed absently as he picked up his pace to keep up with the currently power-walking younger woman. She grabbed some money from her purse and, tossing it to Yuuhi, inserted her coins and started selecting things. Yuuhi leaned his arms on the bar that was behind her.

"Don't do that." A large man with dreadlocks said.

"I don't mind, I won't be using it." Anzu looked back and gave a wink to Yuuhi.

As the first song started playing, Anzu closed her eyes, and felt the rhythm and beat to the song. When the arrows started flashing on the screen, Anzu moved like lightning to tap the corresponding arrow pads on the raised platform. Never missing a beat, Anzu began putting her whole body into the sexual dance she was beginning to perform. Hearing cheers from the crowd behind, Anzu became bolder and threw off her jacket, Yuuhi caught it from the air. Anzu slowed down with the song, a break of the pattern, most players, new ones and sometimes more intermediate and expert players were caught off guard, but not Anzu. She was liquid, all eyes in the arcade were on her, watching her performance. Never opening her eyes, Anzu leapt right back into action when the song picked up. Whistles and awe from the audience moved her onward even further until the climactic finish, which she performed on her hands. She returned to her feet and without looking at the screen for her score finally opened her eyes and looked at Yuuhi. Beads of sweat poured from her brow, and her breathing was heavy, hair in a slightly tangled mess. Yuuhi stared up, in awe. She kicked that Ian guys ass, and gave a encore-worthy performance.

"What do you think?" She breathed.

"That was…" Yuuhi was lost for words "… Amazing."

Anzu smiled, her breathing still heavy and ragged. "Better than Ian Something-or-Other?"

"By far." Yuuhi said confidently.

"I'm glad, I was trying to impress you." She winked. "It's been a while since I did that song on Oni Mode."

"What song was that?" Yuuhi asked as Anzu stepped off of the platform.

"The hardest song on this machine: Paranoia Survivor Max." Anzu said, holding her head a little higher. "It never fails to tire me out though. Anyone who wants my next few credits can have 'em." Anzu offered to the throng of people who had gathered to watch her perform.

Yuuhi and Anzu left the arcade and re-entered the busy streets. Like an ant colony, people were rushing to and fro, not pausing or breaking pace for a moment, for two teenagers with nothing to do but saunter around, this was like a highway, and they were the raccoon on peoples headlights. The quickly made for a side street to avoid becoming the road kill on said highway. As they walked, Yuuhi handed Anzu back her jacket.

"Oh, so you caught it, I was afraid some pervert who was into sweat or something would get it." She took it from his hand and held it to her stomach as they walked.

"Don't mention it." Yuuhi stared off ahead, not wanting to look down at his young friend, who seemed to have grown up in his eyes in but a moment. No child moved quite like that. Yuuhi was now painfully aware of Anzu. Now that Yuuhi thought about, Anzu wasn't much younger than he himself. She was Yuugi's age, and Anzu was the same. Both only one year younger. Yuuhi looked down at the tall and… shapely… There he was looking at her! Yuuhi mentally slapped himself. Yuugi liked Anzu. Yuuhi didn't want to hurt Yuugi. Did Yuuhi like Anzu? Was it just the dancing? Yuuhi tore through his mind for the answer when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked down in surprise.

"What're you thinking about?" She asked.

Wrong question. Wrong time. Yuuhi had to think of something, fast. The last thing he wanted was to lead on a friend if she didn't actually like him. "What am I thinking about? What're you thinking about?" He asked.

Smooth, Mutou, smooth, Yuuhi thought to himself.

Anzu looked up quizzically. Then laughed a little. "What am I thinking? Well…" Anzu trailed off and looked down, the slightest bit of pink on her cheeks.

Yuuhi couldn't help but thinking that she was cute at that moment. But there he was, thinking about her again. "… Well?" Yuuhi asked stoically.

"… Well… It's nothing." Anzu said quickly.

Yuuhi stopped. "Come on, tell me." Yuuhi crossed his arms. "I'm not budging until you tell me."

Anzu turned and looked to the side for a moment, jacket still held in her arms. "I started free-styling in there, to impress you. I was wondering what your honest opinion was." Anzu said quietly.

Honest opinion, Yuuhi asked himself. Honestly, Anzu, Yuuhi thought, I was a little turned on. Yuuhi slapped himself mentally for even saying that. Nobody heard him, but the fact that he said this of his friend was reason enough.

"Honestly… I was very impressed. It was really good, it moved me." Ambiguity was the name of the game. "Where do you want to go now?"

"You've been to the river in town right?" Yuuhi shook his head from side to side. "Let's go sit by the riverbank, it's just this way." Anzu began walking with a hurried pace down the street, Yuuhi sprinted forward to catch up.

-----

Jounouchi turned the lock on his door, and when it clicked, he turned the knob and the door creaked open. Jou walked in followed by Mai, Malik and Yuugi. Yuugi looked back and forth. Surprisingly, it was clean.

"Where have the aliens taken Jou, Mai?" Yuugi asked.

"Funny, this place is clean thanks to my better half here." Jou pointed at Mai. "Mai's a clean freak, never woulda guessed she could wash windows and dishes, eh?" Jou laughed and Mai just glared. Jou's laugh died down to a low chuckle and then stopped entirely.

"Katsuya is such a pig that if someone didn't clean up after him, he'd have garbage water falling out the windows. I feel like his Mom." Mai said with a shrivelling glare at Jou.

Jou looked at her with disdain. "My Mom doesn't give me kisses like you do, Mai." Jou grinned and Mai blushed furiously.

Malik and Yuugi watched the lovers spat, if you could call it that. They traded off insults for a moment until Mai slugged Jou in the face, and with blood dripping from his mouth he flew backwards into a wall. He was seeing stars. This was Yuugi's chance to ask Mai about the tournament.

"Mai, Kaiba is hosting a tournament or something, it's team-based and he wanted to know if you could participate." Yuugi said.

"Is Katsuya participating?" Mai asked.

"Think about it: Kaiba and Jounouchi don't like each other, would it be good to have them on a team together?" Yuugi asked.

Mai cast a sorrowful gaze back at the blonde, violence-prone young man and then with a sigh, turned and nodded. "Sounds like fun."

One more, Yuugi thought.

"Yuugi, what are you going to do about the Jackals?" Malik asked. "They are after your Puzzle, sooner or later, they're going to try again. You need a plan of attack."

Yuugi flopped down on a box near the door. Jounouchi didn't have much furniture yet. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Going to their ship and doing something is out of the question, and sitting around and waiting would be nerve-wracking."

"Agreed." The blond Egyptian conceded. "Giving them the Puzzle is out as well. They are holding the God monsters, if they know what I did, then we could be in very big trouble if the get your Puzzle."

"Agreed." Yuugi conceded. "There is too much at stake and it's not like they're swarming me like your Ghouls did."

"What if they send a Triad armed with a God monster? You beat Osiris when I did that." Malik said.

"Obelisk is weaker than Osiris as well, I might be able to overpower Obelisk, Osiris… It would take a miracle for me to draw the right combo I would need against Osiris, and then there's Ra…" Yuugi trailed off.

"Only a select few can control the Winged Dragon of Ra, you know that. Remember what happened to Rishid and Jounouchi?" Malik asked.

Yuugi, Mai, Jounouchi, everyone who was there remembered. Rishid had summoned a fake Ra and the God itself showered it's wrath upon both players. Jou won by chance, and the darkness within Malik, Marik, was able to manifest itself, and he did horrible things to Mai, Ryou, Jounouchi, and Yuugi himself. Nobody was safe from the lunatic, but thanks to a clever trick on Yami's part, the regular Malik returned, and was able to banish his evil for good.

"I remember." Yuugi said cryptically. The room fell into silence, until Jounouchi snapped up, and he was angry as a bull seeing red.

"Mai! Why the hell did you hit me?!" He roared.

"You said some hurtful things to me Jounouchi Katsuya! You deserved every bit of what I gave you!" Mai's eyes flashed angrily as the two stood, glaring and gritting their teeth at each other.

Jounouchi's shoulders heaved, and Mai's breast did. Sparks were zapping angrily in this room. Yuugi and Malik slowly backed away before the imminent explosion could occur. As soon as they closed the door, Mai and Jounouchi leapt at each other and fell to the floor, passionately kissing each other.

Malik and Yuugi tore down the hall when they heard the crash, and soon, they were outside, Yuugi running home, and Malik running to his hotel.

-----

Yuuhi and Anzu were sitting on the grass, staring into the churning body of the river that ran through the city. To Yuuhi, they were uncomfortably close, and he was thinking of everything but Anzu. The worst part was the silence, all he could hear was her breathing, content, and even.

"I like coming here." Anzu broke the silence. Her voice was quiet held a hint of secrecy to it.

"It's a nice place." Yuuhi agreed.

"The sunsets are nice, too." Anzu said. "To tell the truth, I wanted to hang out with you today. There's eight years worth of information to catch up on."

"There isn't much on my end to talk about, you know just about everything." Yuuhi shrugged and then lay flat on his back. Anzu sat, knees almost to her chin with her arms wrapped around them.

"A lot has happened on this end." Anzu said with a chuckle.

"Tell me." Yuuhi said without sitting up.

Anzu launched into everything that happened since the day he disappeared from her life. She went into detail about all that happened and all the friends and enemies that they had made. Duellist Kingdom, Battle City, all the stuff before, after and in between. It was quite a story. She then started talking about her biggest passion, dancing. Yuuhi remembered her dancing all to well. As Yuuhi was reminiscing about that particular part of his day, Anzu lay down on the grass next to him.

"I should really be going home soon." She said wistfully. "Not like anybody is waiting for me though." Anzu heaved a sigh. "I've lived on my own for a while now."

Yuuhi couldn't help but feel sorry for his brunette friend. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. A slight smile touched her lips as she propped herself up on an elbow, she leaned over and kissed Yuuhi. In surprise, his eyes shot open, and then she stood.

"I have a dance class to go to in the morning, I'll see you later." Anzu winked and took off down the street as Yuuhi was still recovering his wits.

He shot up quickly and looked off after her. He touched his fingers gently to his lips. Strawberry. Her lips tasted like strawberry. He fell back onto the grass and stared into the darkening sky. What was he going to tell Yuugi, or even Anzu if he didn't like her like that. Was that even that kind of kiss, or was it a friend thing? Yuuhi would've pondered further but his mind was interrupted by a familiar voice. He turned back to see Ryou. His ring with the eyes on it shimmering in the twilight.

"Yuuhi, can we talk about something?" Ryou asked.

****

End of Chapter 11

Next Chapter: Stuff happens, w00t! Otogi and Honda should be showing up since they haven't been seen in a while, Shizuka as well. Some Seto, Isis and Rishid as well. Most of this is actually going to happen since I'm not actually in the mood to be funny now.

Fieren: Okay, I'm starting a different style here, I don't know if anybody (is reading T.T) noticed or not. As always though, R&R and tell me what you think?

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MORE REVIEWS MEANS I WRITE MORE AND IT COMES UP FASTER!!!!!!!!

Refer me to your fanfic reading, Yugioh-loving friends. I would love nothing more than to receiver more reviews telling me that my work is being read and enjoyed. Peace all!


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